The Price of Living
by WolvesHaveReturned
Summary: The Doctor must take a dangerous journey to save Gallifrey, his family, and himself, but what will the universe demand in return? Can one ever really get a second chance? What price is one willing to pay for love and family when one has nothing left? Eventual 11/Rose. Family Fic. 11, 8, 9, & 10, Rose, Bad Wolf, Jack, OC's, Rassilon, Braxiatel, the Master, & some Tentoo.
1. Unexpected Presence

**A/N: Hello! This is my first Doctor Who fic! Huzzah! And I don't own anything nor profit from writing these characters, but oh, how fun it is!**

**I'm writing 11, because the timeline works best and just Rose Tyler related reasons.**

**I don't do a lot of fluff - well, I do sarcastic nonsense, but not really romance-y fluff because I'm not half clueless on it really, and I prefer to write adventure with a healthy dose of aaangst. There will be romance on a couple fronts in this story, but it won't be the focal point of the story - just a helpful feature, like Siri. Only, Siri has nothing to do with romance or stories or Doctor Who, so forget I mentioned Siri.**

**I rather detest Clara Oswin Oswald (no companion bashing in this story, she just doesn't exist) so I'm starting this shortly after the Ponds are gone and the canon Doctor would've sequestered himself in Victorian London, only he isn't or hasn't and won't. No evil snowmen, no one-word tests, no Strax - sorry, I really do love Strax, Vastra, and Jenny and would consider fitting them in if I thought I could. But anyway, the Doctor will find more pressing things, and won't need Clara to step into his time stream to aid in the salvation of not only himself but Gallifrey. We're going to meet some OC's and familiar ones as well and possibly save the universe, or maybe blow it up.  
**

**First chapter is Angst central, but it will get lighter and more fun... before it gets dark again.**

**Lets go on a journey!**

**Reviews! Love a review!**

_**Geronimo!**_

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It had been a very, very bad week. Extremely not nice. Horrible even.

The TARDIS had sustained severe damage on Rodan IV, a planet inhabited by brilliant bipedal insectoids with a nose for business - among other things.

Their noses were shaped like short elephant trunks and they had smallish buzzing wings like flies, so really, one might say they had a nose for anything. Ample noses on Rodanians, and he assumed they were very useful appendages to have when one's arms only had jointed segments at the ends rather than actual hands.

Yes, they were like giant money-wise flies with elephant noses - only nothing like that, actually, that was a rubbish description and he'd never use it again.

He'd stopped for rare parts he needed for his ship, when he found he'd landed in the middle of an interplanetary war.

He had narrowly escaped almost certain death with no regeneration - he didn't have one left, now did he, which was rather sobering - as the planet was hit with delta wave after delta wave (a technology that should never have even been possible in the where and when he had landed,) destroying most of the once peaceful trading planet's population and battering the TARDIS in a way she hadn't suffered since the Time War.

He had managed to find the satellite transmitting the deadly waves and blow it up before the planet had completed a full rotation, thus saving about a quarter of its inhabitants, but it had been far too little, far too late.

More than two billion living, breathing, _peaceful_ beings brutally murdered! And for what? New territory and the vile hate of all that was different.

He took very little comfort but savage pleasure in toppling the power-mad, xenophobic humanoid empire responsible on the neighbouring planet of Ghidra III. So many lives had been lost. Wasted. Turned to dust before their time, and he was tired.

He was so very, very tired.

He had lost the Ponds two months, eight days, sixteen hours, and twenty-three minutes ago, and he was now certain he would never see River again.

Shortly before his disastrous trip to Rodan IV, she told him she was leading an expedition to The Library. He'd known the day would come, but losing another loved one and so soon after losing Amy and Rory was absolutely gutting.

He missed each of the Ponds with every fibre of his being.

They had been his salvation after the madness he suffered toward the end of his last life, they tempered the grief which had come from the loss of his race, once again... the loss of R-... the loss... once again... In them he had gained not only a safe haven and companionship, but he had shared more with Amy than anyone in hundreds of years.

He felt steel bands forming around his hearts as he thought of all the ways he had let her down and she still had loved her Raggedy Man, still cared and noticed when he needed comfort, and she still forgave him for all that which he could never forgive himself. And she was impossibly brilliant.

And she was gone.

She would always choose Rory, of course, and quite right too. He had known she would, and he didn't grudge either of them that unimaginable and unfailing love they had for each other... of course he understood, he had, after all... well, yes, he understood being irrevocably separated from... well... and the agony that followed - but the loss of impossible, amazing Amelia Pond hurt so, so much - like when he had lost Donna…

He couldn't think about Donna though, brilliant, fiery Donna, not now with brilliant, fiery Amy so recently... gone...

If she had just come back into the TARDIS... and maybe they could have found a way to bring Rory back - but well, no, probably not. Impossible, or he'd have gone after them straight away.

He had to let them go. All of them. The Girl Who Waited, The Last Centurion, and the woman who loved him enough to destroy the universe to prevent his death. Impossible humans. His family.

He'd lost another family.

Was it so very much to ask for, his little human family?

He knew the answer, of course.

When had he ever been allowed that kind of domesticity? He avoided it like the plague for that very reason. It was always taken from him the moment he dared to believe in its permanence. Even his own granddaughter hadn't been his to keep forever.

He felt the bands around his hearts tightening as he thought of his beloved Susan...

She had been so very young when they had first absconded together in search of adventure and a different way of life. She had grown up into a lady of whom he was so proud. Courageous, compassionate, adventurous, and genius, and it had killed him to push her away.

All birds must fledge... but she had been so important that he nearly always invited the people aboard the TARDIS who reminded him of her in some way.

He thought of each one of his companions and how he had loved each of them in their own way and had never been allowed to keep them for long.

Some he drove away.

Some he just abandoned.

Others... he killed...

No, he was a monster who eventually utterly annihilated all that he loved. Hadn't he proven it time and time again?

Look what he had done to the Ponds. Look what he had done to his precious Amelia. She'd never have more children. He knew they'd adopted a son, but what had his mere presence in her life taken? She never got to see her daughter's first steps, nor taught her to ride a bicycle. He'd been the cause of her pain over and over and she was forever changed as a result.

Oh, bollocks, look what he had done to _Rory_!

How many times had he been killed or winked out of existence? Never mind that it didn't stick. How many times had he proven that he was a better and bigger man than the Doctor could ever be? Why hadn't Rory the brilliant Roman punched him in the face every day? Or taken his family far, far away from the Doctor's destructive and explosive life?

He too would never be allowed the joys of the fatherhood stolen from him. He would never be able to give his daughter away to a man who deserved her, never dance with small hands in his and feet atop his own, never soothe her when she needed, and never have another chance.

Neither of them would ever have grand-babies to hold. By all rights they should have been able to sit on their rocking chairs in Leadworth, with loads of children and grandchildren surrounding them, as they had tea and jammy toast with kippers, or went sea bathing on holiday, or tended their back garden, or whatever it is humans do when they aren't with a mad old Time Lord who destroys lives.

And River. _Oh,_ _River_.

She should have had a real childhood. She...

Well, he was never going to forgive himself _that_; never begin to atone for what her life had been from the moment she was born on an asteroid millions of light years from the safety of her parents' arms and Earth.

The worst part, and possibly the only thing that saved him from wanting to die of shame without regenerating - and oh, wasn't it just damning all on its own - was that she loved him utterly and completely. It was the only thing which had allowed him the strength to go on.

He could apologise to her and love her to the best of his ability so that she could have the life she deserved even if she had unimaginable horrors in her past. He knew a thing or two about dodgy pasts after all. And he did love her, even if it wasn't exactly the way she loved him, he did. He tried to make her adult life fantastic.

Yet, she would be dead now - or well, technically dead, sort of. Her body definitely died to save him even if he had managed to save her consciousness. Still, she had sacrificed herself for him, again, as so many before her had done.

Why? Didn't they understand that he did that to them? Didn't they understand that their lives were every bit as important as his own?

Of course not, because he did that to them as well. He made himself so important to all of them, they would make the ultimate sacrifice without blinking.

Charmed them all into believing he was worth it.

_Rule number one._

_Oh, bloody hell!_ Why was he allowing himself to wallow like this?

He heaved a sigh and started down the stairs leading under the console, his footsteps as heavy as his bleeding hearts.

Try as he might to keep his thoughts from the darkness always threatening to envelop him, he couldn't stop the onslaught now it had begun.

When he considered all he'd lost in his life, he felt utterly suffocated.

He had no home apart from his - admittedly rather brilliant and magnificent - TARDIS, and everyone he ever loved was either dead or irrevocably lost to him...

Well, sort of... almost... not really since R_\- She_ technically _was_ with him, just not with _him_ him - and, oh, if thinking about Her didn't just exemplify how supremely unfair the universe could be.

She had crossed the void for him. She had defied the impossible on so many occasions for him, and She loved him.

_ Him!_

The broken old man who babbled, and evaded, and ran from feelings. She loved him.

And oh, _how_ he loved H_er_. How he wished -_ yearned_ \- that She were with him, in that very dismal moment, to soothe the ache, like She always had, and quiet his ever-howling demons with Her innocence, Her fire, and unwavering compassion.

The steel bands around his hearts tightened further - so very tightly, in fact, that he was sure they should cease beating all together with only a small word of encouragement.

Yet, his mind insisted in direct opposition to his hearts, if he had kept Her, as he had so desperately wanted, timelines be damned, he had seen terrible consequences for the universe. He was never going to be able to keep Her without the implosion of existence.

The timelines had to play out.

How was that for divine punishment?

He _would_ have Her, but he would also _never_ have Her_. _

Of course, it was never going to be fair for either of them - another damning side effect of saving the universe was enduring all her cruel punishments and malicious irony for your efforts, and She saved it more often than most.

She would get to have a life and family with the man She loved - _him _for Rassilon's sake - but be stuck on the slow path and always long for the stars, while he would always long for Her, but had all of time and space at his fingertips.

He knew, of course, that he'd never love any woman the way he loved Her, after all, She'd taught him how.

His goddess.

His salvation.

His torment.

"_Rose,_" he whispered the familiar prayer of _her_ name into the surrounding emptiness.

He took a moment to ponder whether or not he - the other he with one heart and (_his!)_ Rose Tyler - had managed to grow the TARDIS properly and if (just maybe, please,) they weren't denied the stars after all.

He doubted it. Donna... _oh, Donna_... hadn't considered that the universe in which he had left them with that bit of his sentient ship had not been... well, compatible... diesel where it should have been petrol... but not really like that at all, that was a rubbish analogy, still, it illustrated his point. He had probably sentenced them both to a slow, cheese-and-toast life on and Earth with Zeppelins, and no Prime Vortex to grow their TARDIS.

He'd never know.

He heaved a sigh and began examining the masses of tangled wires before him.

He needed to rest a while and sort himself out, or he'd end up withdrawing from the universe completely.

Maintaining the Always Alright mask was out of the question in his state. In fact, he had a sneaking suspicion the face which might look back at him in a mirror was as stormy as it had ever been.

No, "Hello, I'm the Doctor," all, "Last of the Timelords, do as I tell you, you infantile ameoba, or I will end you before you evolve to stand on two legs."

Wouldn't be winning and awards for friendliness, to say the least.

He was perfectly intent on just wallowing in the vortex while his inner monologue persisted in such anger and self-deprecation, and repairing his beautiful timeship when he felt it.

It began as a tickle in the back of his mind, a feather-light breeze of consciousness he had not felt since his last encounter with the Master.

It was faint enough that he might have written it off as if it were only phantom pains in a long removed limb - after all, it had disappeared as quickly as it had manifested - but shortly after he was telepathically assaulted by waves of agony and grief. The lament was so strong that he sank involuntarily to his knees and clutched at his head as the cacophony of pained thoughts tumbled indistinctly together.

He struggled and choked back a strangled sob as he tried to erect mental barriers.

Having been too long alone in there, he'd been completely mentally unguarded, which, had that been an actual telepathic assault, would've been very, extremely not good.

Thankfully, it didn't appear to be, and now that the din was only a distant pulse at the back of his mind, he could properly think.

The presence wasn't alien.

Of course, he knew of many other telepathic species littered throughout the galaxies, but only one that felt and resonated the way this did.

This was familiar, and frightening, and exhilarating and - oh!

Somewhere, some-when, was a Time Lord.

_ Or Time Lords._

Analysing the presence pointed to the latter.

Probably, well, most likely - yes, he was sure almost - less than ten Time Lords in total - well, no, they could be Time _Ladies_, they weren't necessarily male, and that was wonderful too, yes - less than ten, that's what it seemed like, but it could be twenty even, who knew, really? Maybe the ones he felt were especially loud, but probably, almost certainly only a handful - but Time Lords!

If hope was a thing with feathers, he was a bird, indeed.

How?

Why now?

What was happening?

Was it too good to be true?

Was it another trap as it had been when House had tried to take his TARDIS from him and consume her?

_ Oh, sod it!_ He wasn't alone, not the last, there were other _Time Lords!_

Time Lords in incredible distress.

He ran back up the stairs to the console monitor and began furiously trying to pinpoint their location.

He would find them. He had to.

He pleaded silently with the TARDIS to lock onto them quickly, pushing his mop of floppy hair out of his green eyes that burned with the fire of hope as he mathematically searched the universe.

If they were in trouble… well, he would find them. He would. He would save them this time.

As suddenly as they had come, those impossible voices, so filled with anguish, they were gone, leaving him alone and bereft once more.

"No!" he screamed and threw the lever for the dematerialisation sequence, forgetting that she desperately needed repairs. "No, no, no, no, no!"

He ran around the console pushing buttons and throwing levers with reckless abandon.

He ran full circle to the monitor. He hadn't gotten an exact lock, only that it had come from the Garazone System.

It was at least a start, but there were four inhabited planets and two colonised moons to search.

"Take me to them, Old Girl, please. You always take me where I need to go, please. I need…"

He swallowed hard.

Failure was just not an option.

The TARDIS lurched and he was flung face-first to the floor but he felt her reassuring nudge in his mind and a few flashes of scenery including some street vendors on a planet with a violet sky, piles of mechanical parts, and... puppies? Batty. Sometimes his Sexy thing was as mental as he was. He wondered if she was damaged more seriously than he had thought.

Still, he felt reasonably confident that she would pull this off. She was brilliant and magnificent and she would.

She would.

He jumped to his feet and resumed his mad dance around the console, throwing levers and running back to the monitor every few seconds to check for more concrete evidence.

Feeling slightly panicked, and more than a little frightened, it hit him once again in an utterly overwhelming moment that he had felt other Time Lords.

He wasn't alone.

The trouble would be dealt with, and he wouldn't be alone anymore.

How?

It didn't matter, not really. All that mattered was getting there.

Rassilon help the sorry idiot who had them and was inflicting such suffering, they would meet with all the fury of The Oncoming Storm.

.


	2. Spare Parts

**A/N: I own a car, not a TARDIS, and certainly none of the characters in Doctor Who.**

**I'll post as I edit! Sometimes it'll be a few a day, but I can't make promises. I can however assure you that it will be completed in a relatively timely fashion because I am obsessive and have to get the ideas out or they stalk me in the shower and while I'm supposed to be doing real work and utterly eclipsing real life.**

**Yeah, you know what I'm talking about.**

**Love a review!**

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After the first week of fruitless searching, he had been frustrated.

And anxious, yes, very anxious.

Rubbish feeling, anxiousness. It made him antsy. He found it impossible to stay in one spot at any given moment, which wasn't conducive to thoroughly searching the system.

Still, he left no stone unturned on the inhabited moons and no cupboard un-sonicked on any space-port in the vicinity. He found nothing. Not a trace.

After the second week, he started to despair.

Despair was far worse than anxiousness and frustration - well, he was still frustrated. Anxious, frustrated _and_ upset, but now he was also beginning to despair. It was a very not-happy feeling.

Would he actually find them?

He hadn't sensed anything again, not a single mental peep, and he feared he'd been too late.

It was entirely possible. They could have been killed, or moved on quickly, and in that case, he was only spinning his wheels by hanging about.

But what option did he have? He couldn't _not_ look; couldn't just swan off and look elsewhere... until he was positive - and he wasn't positive. The TARDIS brought him there and she did so for a reason. He trusted her. She'd have given him an indication if it was, in fact, time to go... He was pretty sure she would, anyway.

Now that nineteen days, twenty-three hours and seven minutes had passed with no hint of another Time Lord emergent, he was beginning to question everything - his sanity above all.

Had he imagined it all in his emotionally devastated state?

It could happen. The mind - especially an incredibly active one like his - could come up with a lot of strange things when under enough stress, and, well, stressed barely encompassed what he had been feeling, didn't it?

Was it only his own grief and loss he'd been feeling, and it had somehow tricked his senses into believing the impossible?

Had he dreamed it all?

Was he so desperate for connection and reassurance that he'd had a break from reality?

He knew stranger things had happened to him.

His doubt settled like a fine layer of dust on the determination he had first felt, dulling all certainty.

Doubt, however, was infinitely preferable to the sinking feeling that he had simply failed.

He banished the possibility that they were gone.

They couldn't be.

He wouldn't allow it.

No.

They'd have left traces somewhere, and traces were all he needed. He'd find them.

He had searched everywhere in the system - both moons and all four planets - to no avail. They were simply put, unfindable - was that a word?

Every allowable second was spent in fanatic pursuit, even to the uncommon degree of ignoring local distress and curiosities, and he focused his considerable genius on this one all-important task.

He didn't sleep, he didn't tinker or fix the broken systems on the TARDIS - not that she - well, _they_, really - didn't desperately need it. Both of them needed each other at their best, and neither, in fact, was.

Fervour and obstinacy was what fuelled them.

He had dark circles under his eyes, and was a cranky bastard, yelling at his ship and cursing her for things which probably, definitely weren't her fault.

She wasn't in the best shape - still battered from their last disaster of a trip - and couldn't keep up with what he was asking of her, but he couldn't face the notion that if he had just moved - _a few seconds_ \- faster instead of being floored by the pained, cacophonous clamour of thought, he would've been able to get real coordinates.

The failure had been his, not hers. Blaming her for anything wasn't fair. He knew it and still had resorted on several occasions to bringing out the mallet he'd been so fond of in his last regeneration.

The TARDIS bore his wrath with the patience of a saint, shocking him only when he was going to break something vital, and mostly ignoring his diatribes. She was as desperately determined as he was, and would endure worse to ensure they found whom they were looking for. She sent him as much strength through their bond as she could spare, and his guilt over how he was treating her was palpable.

Several times she replayed the images of the violet sky, and marketplace - with rather more impatience as of late - and still with the puppies.

He knew her patience was waning, and she had to be frustrated that he was being so thick. The last time she'd insisted, he'd snapped at her that he was very well familiar with all that, _thank you_, could she_ please_ move on with something, _anything_ remotely helpful? He yelled that she only wanted fixing and wasn't really trying to help at all. She'd responded with a mental huff, a shock, and refused to acknowledge him for hours.

Garazone Prime had been his best lead from the start. The Earth-like planet, with the violet sky and world-wide market, was inhabited by humans and Garans alike, selling intergalactic wares and coexisting peacefully. He'd visited many times before to scour the stalls for TARDIS parts - well, parts which could work in the TARDIS with some jiggery-pokery. He'd not found actual TARDIS parts since…

Yes, right, well, he needed to fix her, he knew. She would be much better able to help him if she were operating properly, so he returned once more to the markets which might yield the parts she required... and if he used the time to look again for his people in addition, so much the better.

He wandered through the piles of space-junk, hardly aware of what he was meant to be looking at, and hoping for a tickle, or nudge, or anything to come to him instead.

With a hand through his locks which refused to stay out of his eyes, and a sigh that spoke of despair and utter loneliness, he forced himself to focus before he started digging into the pile immediately before him.

He spotted something potentially usable, a Furidurb Graviometric bypass with only a couple smallish cracks that could be sonicked easily. He moved to pick it up when it was rudely snatched by a pair of slender, human hands. He looked up to glare at the owner of the grabby, thieving hands and saw they belonged to a woman in her late teens or early twenties — hard to tell, that, humans aged so quickly and all, but she looked young.

She was already haggling hard-nosedly with the merchant and ignoring his ire completely. Something about the girl triggered a feeling of recognition, though he was positive he'd never seen her or anyone who really looked like her in his lives. Her inky black hair was cut in a jagged asymmetrical bob which looked like she'd cut it while it was tied back. She wore it loose, with only the fringe pinned back, and a black straw fedora hat jammed on top to keep it from swinging free. She had pale, ivory coloured skin with faint hints of pink about her cheeks and lips, and her figure tall and boyish. She wore a dark leather trench coat with dark trousers, a black polo-neck, a red scarf which lent the only colour to her rather utilitarian palette, and dusty grey-brown leather boots that came up to her knees. She bore no softness of countenance, her demeanour rigidly set to keep all others at a distance or too scared to approach. Her thick brows seemed to be naturally drawn together in an expression of wary seriousness, and she carried herself like she was ready to fight or run at any moment. A hardened soldier with the unfortunate face of a would-be-pretty-if-only young girl.

He disliked her instantly.

In all fairness, she _had_ actually gotten to it first, it was true, and probably needed it, but, well, he didn't care, did he? He'd _seen_ it first (maybe), been closer to it certainly-ish, and he had reasons and needs that would trump any silly repairs to whatever insignificant ship she intended it for. He was trying to recover the last few of an all but extinct race! What could she possibly want which equaled that? No, his need was much greater! He was also tired of these frustrations and determined to win this one battle, right here, right now. He'd get that satisfaction at least.

Plus, she stood there with an air like kicking bunnies was very good fun. No one likes a bunny-kicker.

"I'll pay one hundred credits over your asking price if you sell that to me instead," he informed the orange-skinned vendor who looked taken aback, but pleased at the development.

"Ah, yes, sir! Well-"

"Oi!" She cut him off with a motion of her hand but looked at the Doctor appraisingly. Her eyebrows contracted so they were almost touching, and she narrowed her eyes at him before taking a couple threatening steps closer. "S'cuse you, rude! We're nearly at an agreement here! You can't jus' swan in an' steal parts from a girl! Who d'you think you are, Bow-tie?" she scolded, yes, _scolded_ him. "Off you pop now, before you get tangled in somethin' you can't handle, alright?"

He instinctively reached up and straightened his tie. He really did not like her.

She returned her attention to the merchant. "Fine then," she gouged out through gritted teeth, paying more was obviously painful, "I'll give you two hundred credits above the three from my last offer. Tha' makes it five hundred, so we've a deal then, yeah?" she pushed, trying to insinuate herself between the merchant's line of vision and the glowering Doctor.

"I'll give you seven hundred credits," he challenged, feeling the anger rolling off the raven-haired woman and taking more than a bit of savage pleasure in her frustration.

The vendor looked like he had just been told every day would be Christmas as he looked back at his young patroness to see if she was desperate enough to make a higher bid. What he saw caused him to flinch and re-think his bidding war tactic.

She ignored the way the man was slowly backing away from both of them and looked the Doctor right in the eyes. "You're a right wanker, y'know tha'?"

Normally he would have grinned cheekily, and maybe even bowed sarcastically, but she was closer now and her eyes had startled him, so the moment for a snide retort passed unused. What he had first noted as brown were not, in fact, when she was close. They were honey-coloured and full of fire. They were familiar somehow, yet completely foreign and terrible. They reminded him of R—… Well, _her_ eyes were much softer and full of very good, wonderful, tender things — things that made him feel like melting butter and contentment. These eyes may have been the same shade, but were contradictory pits of ice and magma, steel and storm. And hate. Lots of hate. For him.

He gave a slight, involuntarily shudder at the torrent raging behind them. This must be what his own looked like when he stared down an enemy. Right terrifying, actually.

However, _he_ was The Destroyer of Worlds, The Oncoming Storm, and The Predator, not this pathetic, puffed-up (bunny-kicking!) human girl, and he wouldn't be cowed by some angry little child in a market, no matter how hard she thought herself.

Without taking his eyes from hers or softening his own expression, he fished out his credit stick and passed it to the cowering merchant who looked like the only thing he wanted was the two warring buyers safely far, far away from his stall.

She broke first, rolling her wolfish eyes, and all but stamping her foot before she stalked away like a wounded bear.

In his solitude, he found the victory tasted less sweet than he anticipated. He _was_ a right wanker, wasn't he? Yes, of course he was. He hadn't considered her need, and maybe it was greater than his own... What if she had family to rescue from slavers in another system? What if she was trying to take life-saving medicine to her colony of... non-rabbit-kickers and now they would all die of Leprosy V with their faces melting into... Never cowardly or cruel, indeed. She was just a little girl. He shouldn't have done that. His needs did not supersede all by virtue of being his. He knew better.

He ran into her again an hour later reaching for the same Fast Sub-light Drive Capacitor — in miraculously rather brilliant condition — that he had just snatched up. She glared daggers at him but didn't challenge him for it. Instead, she stomped a short distance away, leaning against a wall and brooded with her arms folded tightly against her chest, looking anywhere but at him. He'd been a half second from offering it up, but her disdainful expression and refusal to look his way cleared any residual guilt from his conscience. It was impossible to imagine she was on any heroic mission when her face clearly said she'd slug the first being to come within a metre of her.

He studied her from the corner of his eye after he made his purchase. She was... He couldn't put a finger on what she was. Again, the feeling of recognition couldn't be shaken. He didn't know her and hadn't known her, but something nagged inside. Perhaps reminiscent of people he'd known? Yes, he supposed that was the closest description; people he'd known and of whom he'd not been overly fond. The way she stood — or well, leaned, was familiar — the way she ducked her head as if she were lost in thought, but her eyes constantly roved and took inventory of her surroundings too was uncannily like someone he'd known well, but the 'who' in the resemblance remained elusive. Perhaps it was just the haunted behaviour of someone on the run, and well, he was quite familiar with that, wasn't he?

That too had been the second part that they'd both needed — and not exactly run-of-the-mill parts which often needed replacing.

Was she following him, or was it coincidence?

He wondered what kind of ship she was flying — or well repairing, she wasn't necessarily the pilot, was she? — that would be so hard on both the gravitational systems and light speed generators. Maybe a Chula ship? It would have to be an extremely old and wholly knackered one, and a right Frankenstein's Monster at that. Maybe an Antarian cruiser?

She was a puzzle, if an unpleasant one...

One that he really shouldn't be pondering, he did have more important things to be getting on with, so he shoved the thoughts away and returned to his scavenger hunt.

He ran into her no less than six times before he had amassed most of what he needed and dragged himself back toward the TARDIS, her growing rage evident with each part she was denied, but she didn't once try to best him again.

He didn't believe in coincidence, and perhaps should have paid better attention to the fact that she had been hovering, or rather, was always in sight, but he was flagging, and planned to have a much-needed kip before starting on the TARDIS repair.

Just before he slipped down the alley where he had parked his beloved and very sexy timeship, he spotted her huddled together with two men.

Both were taller by at least half a head, clad in long coats, and slightly ridiculous hats which made distinguishing anything but general details impossible.

_Natural perception filters,_ he mused, something he was well familiar with. Just mundane enough to escape notice, and just off of the norm enough that the average brain couldn't quite grasp what it was seeing and therefore avoided processing it entirely.

They weren't speaking, but they were clearly communicating. She seemed to be in charge as they scoured each pile of junk.

Definitely soldiers. Or maybe thieves or con artists. Something not nice, even if they didn't make sport of having a go at bunnies.

He shook his head in disgust and exhaustion before he strode into his TARDIS. He wasn't here to catch criminals nor solve human puzzles. They'd be gone soon enough — well, unless they were stranded because he had bought all the parts they needed, but it didn't matter, no, not this time. He was quite busy after all.


	3. On the Lash

**A/N: I own the computer on which this was typed. I do not own Doctor Who nor any intellectual property belonging to the BBC.**

**One of the things I loved and detested about 11 was his willingness to stray into moral grey area. Well, more like exist in it and occasionally pop into either the white or black.  
**

**I say I hate it because the Doctor has always represented so much good and embodied the 'never cowardly or cruel' mantra with his pacifism and upstandingness. Upstandingness? Right, moving on. Anyway, he is a force of reckoning and change to corrupt and immoral systems in general, and I think that's the general principle behind the show. It's not always in his favour; he suffers as a result, and often makes mistakes that have enormous consequences, but the general idea is that one man can make a difference, yeah? **

**11 always seemed a bit lost to me, like everything he'd gone through at the end of 10 kind of skewed his moral compass. He wasn't like war-torn 9 allowing Cassandra to dry up and pop in bitter anger, or trying to destroy the Dalek in Utah in a hate-filled rage before it massacred the humans imprisoning them both... He had a different darkness, like he no longer cared about the means so long as his ends were justifiable - to him. I find it really hard to watch a lot of the time (ordering the genocide of the Silence without batting an eye - joking about it even - is a prime example. Every other regeneration would've taken an issue with his attitude, even if they'd make the same call.) It seems out of character... and not... for the Doctor. In a psychological evolution (or devolution) it makes sense, which is why I also say I love it. It's fascinating. **

**So, I'm playing with that.**

**Reviews are welcome, motivating, and appreciated! **

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He had taken them back into the vortex while he slept and made the repairs. He hadn't wanted to lose the precious hours being on the ground where he couldn't go back and regain them otherwise, so feeling considerably less grumpy and happily more hopeful, he returned to the amaranthine twilight of the market planet only minutes after he'd left in Garazone Prime time ready to find the errant Time Lords.

His new idea consisted of gathering local intelligence. He snorted at the idiom. Intelligence was, after all, relative, and Gallifreyans looked like humans - well, no, humans looked Gallifreyan - anyway, he knew the average observer would never have spotted the difference, but these were the straws left to grasp, and grasp at them he would.

He started in the pubs, picking half-heartsedly at a basket of fried food, pretending to sip at a pint of ale, and asking questions which earned him raised eyebrows and shakes of the head.

It was slow and frustrating and occasionally - not often, only when it seemed like the human or Garan he was speaking with wasn't being entirely forthcoming - and it _was_ important, or he'd never even contemplate it - touching and peeking into a mind here and there. Any self-respecting telepath would have been shocked and appalled at this. That kind of permission-less invasion was just not done, and was very much against the rules of propriety. Well, not just propriety really, it _was_ bad. Very extremely. One just didn't violate another mind. He knew it was bad. It _was_, but the hope of his species was at stake, and part of him felt past worrying about the rules when no one - not even the minds he touched - would know he'd done it. Under any sort of normal circumstances, he'd never dream of invading another mind without permission - he told himself he wasn't like the Master - he knew it was wrong and he felt guilty for it, he really did-ish... especially since he hadn't gleaned anything useful, but it didn't stop him from repeating the performance whenever he felt it necessary.

The orange tinted Garan before him was starting to seem like one such a fellow. "Who're ya lookin' for again?" he rasped, not looking the Doctor in the eye.

"New people, would've come about two or three weeks ago," he supplied in return. It was twenty days, five hours and six minutes actually, but no, he didn't need to know that. "May have caused a disturbance, or crash landed, or…?" He gave a weak-wristed, flopping hand gesture as though it completed his thought admirably.

The Garan - Tuk, yes, he'd said his name was Tuk, or maybe Tum, didn't matter, never mind - scanned the crowded dance floor and swigged at his beer and frowned. "Nawp, been quiet fer a few months a'least. Were a bit o' ruckus few months back, but tha' were ages, tha'."

The Doctor had already been extending a hand in his direction when the last bit caught his attention. He pulled back quickly in what he hoped seemed like just a stretch, and ran his fingers through his wayward fringe. "What kind of ruckus then?"

"Oh, y'know. Off-worl'ers nickin' bobs outta tha market. Were sorted quick as ya like. Good a' tha', us."

"Yes, yes, of course." He had been to the prisons already and knew they weren't holding any Time Lords, but he would be hacking into their data banks nonetheless. This was an actual lead. He'd been completely thick. Of course they could have gotten here months before him, he was an idiot for assuming the timelines would concur. "Wouldn't happen to know the names of the off-worlders, would you?"

"Nawp, on'y tha' they were let out pret'y quick 'cos there weren't no evidence to keep 'em in. Stuff jus' up an' disappeared when'ey searched 'em. "

"Which shop was this?"

"Tha's the strangest bit, tha', were an android outfit'ers! S'posed to've nicked hundreds o' metres of livin' wire!"

This did surprise him. What did they need living wire for? TARDIS wires were organic and very much alive, but he'd never seen one damaged enough to need synthetic replacements. His hope for finding whole, unmarred Gallifreyans was waning, and he suspected more distinctly that the direction needed to look would result in dark deeds in need of righting and rescue. Were these off-worlders of the alien-biological-experimentalist variety? What were they doing? Harnessing regeneration energy and siphoning it with living wire? Were they thieves? Thugs working for a mastermind? Who was behind it all? Where were they hiding? How were they able to stay off his radar? How was he going to find them, and how was he going to defeat them when he knew so little still?

Oblivious to the shadow that had fallen over the Doctor, Tuk continued in a gossipy, clever-in-his-cups manner, "Weren't nowhere to put a load of it when they was caught, an' it were gone from the shop, but they'd nothin' on 'em in the end. Guards were right buggered by tha'. Merchan' who fingered 'em still won' let 'em near 'er shop with their devilry."

"Ah, they're still here then, are they?" The Doctor couldn't help the bit of desperation that had seeped into his voice. Tuk merely nodded and smiled at his nearly empty pint glass. "Know what they look like by any chance?"

"Three of 'em, yeah? Two tall blokes an' a lass - a bonny lass a' tha'. Don' care much fer tha' humans, me, min' you, but she's a looker no matter wha' species. Tall, dark hair, light skin, wears a lotta leather an' a red muffler. Tha blokes stay out of it mos'ly, dunno where, an' when ya see 'em, don't make much o' an impression, do they? Jus' tall an' a bit dodgy. Hide in their coats, even in heat. But she's in market mos' days an' she's not easy ta forget."

"Tuk, I could kiss you!"

"Jus' said I didn't go fer humans, didn't I? An' tha name's Tam."

"Sure it is! Thank you, Tuk! I'll send another round for you!" He motioned to the bartender and bounced off the wobbly, lavender-coloured wooden stool he'd been occupying.

He knew _exactly_ to whom the Garan had been referring and -

_Oh. Right. Yes._

He knew exactly to whom the Garan had been referring.

_Well._

Okay. Slightly, a little more complicated, but not really, nothing serious - he'd only successfully irritated the bloody hell out of her earlier - but _ha!_ She _had_ been a puzzle that had attracted his attention and he'd only grudgingly ignored it. Now, he would give himself full license to solve it. It was brilliant! And he hadn't liked her one bit! His instincts were superior in every way! Why hadn't he trusted that? She rubbed him wrong and he was going to find out why.

First, he would pop back to the TARDIS and download the prison records, then he'd seek her out in the morning - well, if she were a Time Lady she wouldn't necessarily need to sleep tonight, but he really, honestly doubted she was - _they_ were - they looked like _children_ for Rassilon's sake. And thugs. And they had mysteriously stolen specialty wire, arguably for nefarious purposes. And he couldn't feel a thing from her telepathically. She just couldn't be a Time Lady.

It was far more likely they had information, and something to do with the disappearance of his real focus. He'd deal with whatever else he found when and if he found it.

Mercenaries. The more he thought it, the more sense it made. Oh, he hated mercenaries. The reclusive behaviour of the young men was telling. They had something to hide and didn't want to be noticed, or at least wanted to minimise the noticement - er - _noticement?_ No, forget that, that was rubbish and wasn't a word, they were discreet in any case - and they were doing a fairly good job staying off the grid.

It was actually impressive that it had taken this long for him to find them - well, _maybe_ he should have just paid attention earlier when she'd caught his eye - and by caught his eye, he meant looked ready to murder him over spare parts.

They'd probably crashed when he considering what she was buying, or trying to buy, and maybe they had his people imprisoned on the ship! Perhaps under heavy sedation or in a binding field! And that would be why he couldn't feel them!

Blimey, what kind of ship _was_ it if it could do that?

He had to see it - had to find a way inside. Maybe set off a chain reaction or two which would permanently disable it or, well, he rather liked it when they went boom.

The familiar thrill of saving the day was coursing through his veins, making his skin and mind buzz and hundreds of thoughts with thousands of possibilities just begging to be analysed.

He practically skipped on his way back to the alley where he'd parked his TARDIS.

He could solve this. He knew. Genius, him.

He caught her out of the corner of his eye slinking into another pub. Larger. Flashy. Seedy. A line of locals and two burly orange guards with sickly, yellow-green hair failed to notice the three who had weaved their way through the line and not paid the cover charge.

Perhaps a detour was in order. A little quiet observation and study might be just the thing.

He slipped quietly in the back door stepping through the fry kitchen, flashing his psychic paper at the cook and nicking a plate of chips as he went. Settling in a back corner that afforded him the best view of the room while being mostly shielded from view, he watched.

Surprisingly, she had shed her leathers but was still more covered than anyone else in the room, save maybe himself. She was missing the muffler and hat she'd worn earlier, leaving her curtain of sleek black hair to swing about her angular face. She wore an oversize, black wool jumper that hung on her willowy frame like a tunic. Despite it she was sleek and predatory. The only skin she showed were fingers and face but all eyes seemed drawn to her. She oozed sensuality and no one in her vicinity was spared.

Bodies bathed in coloured light undulated to the fashionable music preferred in the system. A mix of electronic pulses and pan flute, he cared little for it, but the sea of orange, and pink, and green, moved as if they were an entity alive with only the bass for a heartbeat and the melodies the very breath of life.

She moved in time with the music, her body only barely grazing those near her for fractions of a second before she moved away from any real contact. Many reached out to her and tried to pull her in for a dance or just get her attention, but she ignored everyone except a rather short and squat Garan male with ruddy orange skin and pale yellow hair, who looked at her with a lasciviousness that was, frankly, rather nauseating. He obviously was someone important by the look of his garb - richly embroidered and embellished and made of fabrics not seen on many present - and he seemed used to the attention of beautiful women despite his homeliness. She caressed his many chins and pressed her body close to him as they swayed to the music and she let him grope her unashamedly.

It was hard to watch, to be honest. Something inside made him want to scold her for being lewd... and having poor taste. The man was a nasty piece of work if he ever saw one. It was silly, really, he was pretty sure he hated her so why should he care about her choice in mates, but she was too young to be acting... like that.

He scanned the crowd quickly and noticed two tall figures in heavy, brown wool overcoats near the entry, one keeping unwavering blue eyes on her and the other continually scanning the room through a curtain of curly brown hair. Her subordinates, yes. They were in the middle of a job then. The curly man's wary brown eyes rested once, then twice on the observing Doctor, making sure he posed no threat to the girl as she - did... whatever she was doing.

He turned his attention back to her and saw her pull out of a kiss that had sent the ugly little Garan reeling and gasping for breath. The Doctor made a disgusted face and shook his head. She was hopeless. He watched her take the opportunity while the Garan staggered to shrink into the crowd and slip away. She abandoned her attention-seeking behaviour as she made her way back to the men at the door, seeming to shrink in on herself and become invisible to the people in the crowd that had only minutes before been pawing at her. When she reached the shadowy, coated figures, she quickly slid into her coat, scarf, and a black straw fedora before the three of them slunk out the door and into the night.

Right. That was his cue to leave.

By the time he'd waded through the bodies and made his own exit, they were at least a kilometre ahead on grey, cracked city pavement, quickly becoming hidden by velvet darkness in the balmy night. He hurried to bridge the distance, but hung back by ten or so metres; within earshot for his acute hearing but not so close that he'd draw their attention... he hoped.

"So'd you get it then?" The taller one with the long hair asked eagerly.

The Doctor let out a small, reassured sigh that they hadn't heard him approach.

"Really?" She shook her head and pushed him playfully. He stumbled slightly but didn't retaliate. "You doubted me? Think I like bein' groped by manky carrots, eh?" she chided playfully then withdrew an acorn-sized, silvery sphere and tossed it in the air. He caught it fluidly and slowed his pace to examine the object. "Not now, you gormless git! An' put it away! We're still on the bleedin' street an' you wanna faff about. God, you're jus' like Dad, you are, completely daft."

"Oi! I just wanted a look!"

"Well, now isn't the time, is it, Dum-dum?"

"You know, you can be a right terror when you're cranky." He looked down at her with what the Doctor imagined was a wounded expression.

"Yeah, well, I've had a pretty-not-very-nice-bad day, haven't I?"

"Better now though, yeah?" he insisted with a nudge from his elbow.

"Yeah." She bumped him back with her shoulder and relaxed visibly, even from far behind.

"Let's go put it in, shall we?"

"Yeah. An' I could murder a cuppa. With biscuits. Bagsie the chocolate biscuits. An' the crisps. All of 'em."

They both looked down and scowled at her. She laughed lightly. The one with curly hair shook his head while the other just resumed his forward facing stare.

"Wha' 'bout you then?" She looked up in the direction of the shorter, less loquacious man who had been watching in the pub like a hawk with icy blue eyes. "You're all quiet - er - well, more 'n usual. Wha's goin' on in tha' impressive head of yours, Little Brother?"

He simply shrugged while he looked ahead and kept walking.

So, they were siblings, these children, and thieves. Interesting.

"Oi!" She stopped walking for a moment before catching a hold of his sleeve and forcing him to look down at her. "Don't you get cross with me! We _talked_ about this! He was never gonna part with it, an' we need it!" Again the man shrugged but he didn't lower his gaze from the young woman. "Don' look at me like tha'! I'm jus' doin' wha' I have to - to take care of _you _lot!_"_

"Yeah, I know... sorry, Alpha," the quiet one breathed and dropped his eyes to his shoes.

"Look, we get off this rock an' I won't pick another pocket, I promise, yeah?"

"Yeah." Obviously, he didn't believe her, but he loosened up considerably, though that may have been due to the distance they had now put between themselves and the pub where they had just robbed a man.

He wondered if Alpha was really her name or some sort of code assigned to her. It wasn't a human name, or at least not a name that _nice_ human parents gave their daughters. Maybe they were clones. Renegade, mercenary, thieving, bunny-kicking clone soldiers made a certain kind of sense.

The brothers - he was calling them Dum-dum and Little Brother - flanked Alpha a step or two behind as they trotted down the dark, empty streets. They approached an open park and disappeared into a small copse of violet-leafed trees.

When he caught up and entered the thicket, he'd completely lost them. He wandered around the pitch and thickets for an hour and twenty-eight minutes before admitting that they'd given him the slip. He used his sonic to scan for any cloaked ships in the area, but all scans came back negative.

Bollocks.

He had a choice. He could return to the TARDIS and get the prison records, or he could wait them out. They'd have to come out again some time, and he could be patient… it wasn't easy or pleasurable, no, but he _could_... or he could go back to the TARDIS and move her here… Kill two birds with one stone, as it were, only he wouldn't be killing any birds, why would he want to do that? Birds were good, but the idea was sound and he dashed back the way he'd come to his Sexy.

He was halfway there when a small stone hit him on the shoulder with enough force to smart.

_ "Ow!"_ he whinged and spun around to see who had thrown it at him.

"'S wha' you get for followin' me 'round all day, you pervy sod." Alpha was glaring at him not four metres away.

He hadn't heard her approach. It was unsettling.

"What? Following? Pervy? No, no! What are you, eleven years old? Eugh! I haven't been following you! Well, maybe a little, but certainly not _all_ day! _You_ were following _me!_ Through the market!" he ranted hotly. "And now you're throwing stones! Are you mad? Who _does_ that? That _hurt!_"

Her heavy, arching black eyebrows contracted as she regarded him, but the look was more evaluating than hostile.

"Who're you, then?" she postulated with her throaty voice almost a growl, and amber eyes narrowed with mistrust.

"John Smith," he answered without hesitation. If she was actually dangerous enough to hold his missing Time Lords prisoner, there would be no sense in adding another to the ranks. Also, always using aliases was rule number fourteen when dealing with hostile, young, alien girl-terrors.

Curiously enough, for a split second, her eyes had flashed with something - recognition? trepidation? longing? what had that been? - but her face had remained the assessing mask.

"And your name, Miss?"

"Sally," she supplied after an appraising pause. "Sally Woolfe. I noticed you behind us a while before we lost ya. Not very good at tha', are you?"

"Oi! I'll have you know I'm very good at tailing people - excellent even!"

She grinned for the first time and it lit up her entire being, the deep scowl seemingly a mere fleeting memory. "Tha's why you stomped about behind us like a bilgesnipe an' lost us in 'bout two seconds once we hit the trees, innit?"

He couldn't help returning her smile, but his guard remained intact. He gathered she was capable of being whatever she thought the situation called for to get what she wanted - he'd just witnessed it first hand in the pub, after all. He found he was more comfortable with her scowl. At least he knew what to make of it. Maybe she was hoping to steal one of the parts he'd bought earlier. Though they were all safely installed, she wasn't to know that.

"So, are you jus' a rude nutter tha' follows an' nicks space junk from young women, or were you comin' to apologise for your behaviour today?" she teased amicably.

"Well, actually, I saw you nick that orb and got a little curious." There. Just enough truth to throw her off and not enough to arouse suspicion.

She winced.

Yes, very, very good.

"Yeah," she conceded and folded her arms, "alright. Not denyin' it. I've been after tha' bit for months, but tha' nasty bastard wouldn't give it up unless I shagged 'im rotten, an' he's been _really_ pushy 'bout it too, so I nicked it. Would you shag someone for somethin' you need? I think not."

The Doctor made a face like he'd eaten bacon. Really? Was she purposely trying to make him uncomfortable in retaliation, or was it as black and white as she was claiming? Still, why did some strangers feel the need to go into detail about personal things you don't care to know?

"Happy? He got to squeeze my bum an' a snog out of it, so I'd say we're quits, yeah?"

He cleared his throat and navigated the conversation into safer and hopefully more fruitful waters. "Who were the men with you?"

"My brothers. Only got each other." Her reply was soft and almost as if she was momentarily preoccupied. She shook it off in a flash, however.

"What happened to your ship?"

"'S not finished yet."

That took him aback. "You're building a ship from nothing? As in, ground up? No modifying an existing hull?" Ah, that potentially explained the piecemeal monster he had envisioned before.

She just stared at him without expression.

"Can I see it?"

"Spaceship expert, are you?" she furrowed her brows again and tilted her head.

"Yes!" He clapped his hands together. "No. Well, more of an enthusiast, actually. See? here are my credentials." He pulled out his leather wallet and flashed the psychic paper at her with a grin. "I'm known on several systems as the foremost expert on hyperdrives, ultradrives, megadrives, and floppydrives. I really could help."

She studied it curiously for a moment before those unfortunate eyebrows met up once again in trepidation. "I dunno. 'S our home, y'know? Bit like askin' you back to my flat after two chats tha' were more shoutin' matches, really. Be a bit strange."

"I've been told I am a bit from time to time. Strange, I mean."

"Yeah, me too."

"All the greatest people have been, you know," he said as charmingly as he could.

"Yeah, yeah, we're in good comp'ny," she chuckled almost grudgingly.

"The _best_ even."

"Cheers. But jus' 'cos I snogged someone I hate tonight don't mean I wanna take you home."

The Doctor gave her a horrified look and took an involuntary step back from her, hands coming in tightly to his chest.

"Calm down, Harpo, I'm jus' takin' the piss."

He allowed himself to relax and once again look at her expectantly.

She shifted from foot to foot for a second or two as she looked over her shoulder, then heaved a sigh and brushed her silky black hair behind her ears with both hands and swallowed.

Shaking her head, she allowed the words to leave her lips like she was having to force them out. "Look, I can't jus' show up home with you in tow, my brothers would go completely mental," she blustered and he noticed her accent always seemed to thicken when she was uncomfortable, he filed this away for the future, "but meet me in the park in the mornin' an' I'll talk to 'em tonight, alright? Plans are good. Advance notice an' all tha'. 'M not makin' you any promises, but maybe you can help us - a bit - since you're obviously familiar with some of the systems we're tryin'a run." She didn't wait for a reply. She simply turned on her heel and took off silently - how was she that quiet? - running back the way she'd come without a goodbye.

Still, he'd managed an invite exactly where he'd wanted one.

When he opened the doors to the TARDIS, he was feeling happier than he had in months and preened to his ship accordingly. "Oh, Sexy. I am _good._"


	4. In the Wolf's Den

**A/N: I don't own nor profit from Doctor Who. Writing this disclaimer over and over crushes my fragile little dreams.**

**Something a little different this chapter.**

**I'm sure you've figured out who these strangers are, now it's time to get a little back story on the hows and whys. Not all of it. You've gotta wait for most of it to unfurl as the Doctor learns more, but here's a bit.  
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**After this chapter or the next couple, you can read Jailbreak at any point and all the bits that relate will align. Reading this isn't necessary for Jailbreak to make sense, nor is Jailbreak integral to this story, but it's fun and lighthearted which makes a nice reprieve from the angst. **

**AAAaaand review.**

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The Alpha stole her way silently through the velvety shadows in alleyways and still streets back to her waiting family.

He'd been different from what she was expecting, this _John Smith_. Not that she'd been expecting him exactly, well, maybe a bit, eventually, but not_ this_ one and not before they'd be ready for him. She'd had a job of making her brothers stay put when they saw him wandering around the copse looking for them. She didn't want them to rush out into unnecessary confrontation with the stranger - though the nagging familiarity they'd all felt persisted, he could've been anyone looking to do them harm - so they waited for him to give up, she told them to stay and followed the prat back through the streets.

Megadrives and floppydrives and psychic paper! What a scoundrel trying to con her! And after he'd severely put them off her repair schedule!

Honestly, it felt like it was still far too soon, they'd barely been on the market world six months - well, five months twenty-eight days, twelve hours and two minutes to be exact - and their beautiful baby was nowhere near ready for travel. It looked like it might be months before another delivery of random ship bobbins, which never promised much, and she'd lost every useful piece on Torin's list to the git she'd given the grudging half-invitation to see their home. It was a major setback which still sent stabs of fury and irritation through her; knowing who he was didn't help.

If he'd understood what he'd done, would he still have behaved like an arse? She wasn't sure, but the nagging doubt that they'd be of any import to the man didn't help her mindset. Getting themselves and their ship to this planet - to this universe - had been hard enough and the cost… well, some costs will always feel too dear to pay whether or not one has a choice.

Still, they had grieved enough - because well, it hadn't been like when Dad… no Mum wasn't dead… just… not technically alive per se, and they had mourned. Her brothers still could be caught weeping occasionally when they thought no one was looking - even though they could still communicate with Mum anytime - well, not _yet_ anytime, but _soon_ anytime - and maybe Selene hadn't cried -_ wouldn't_ ever because it was up to her to take care of them all now - but she _had_ mourned and enough was enough, yes. She firmly believed the only way any of them would feel better was to make it better. They had to be the pilots of their own destinies. They had to fix what hadn't gone to plan, and until then, they had to keep moving, stay active and on their toes. It was time to move on and _live_ life. She and her family had squatted on worse rocks than Garazone Prime. A diet of biscuits, tea, and crisps wasn't the worst, and they ate at pubs when they could afford it.

She staunchly refused to sonic cash points. Torin nagged that it was no different from picking pockets, and even that she refused to do unless she saw no other alternative, despite what Lios thought, but she much preferred to work for any money they needed. She also refused to let her brothers do any of it as they were safer staying out of sight (especially since they could be hurt to get at her) and the kind of work one was likely to get on a trading planet was mercenary and dangerous. Thug work. She tried to only take jobs involving delivery piloting, security, or tracking, but it didn't always work out that way and nearly half the time she found herself in a position that made her morally squirm.

She wouldn't suffer kidnappers or slavers, but there was little else for which she would not accept pay. Them she shut down whenever she had the opportunity, leading to a budding reputation in the underbelly of the Garazone System and more danger for herself that Torin and Li never needed to know about. These being-trafficking riffraff called her the Ghost because she never left evidence which could be traced back to her. The only links were her involvement and subsequent quitting before the operations went belly-up... or boom on more than one occasion. And yet, all to often she turned a blind eye to problems for others if they paid well enough.

The moral grey area she accepted as allowable came in the form of delivering stolen goods and often the stealing part too, dodgy deals, smuggling, and drugs. She was constantly required to ignore the oppressed and protect the oppressors. Her father would have been more than disappointed in her, he'd have been livid. He'd have raged and possibly locked her in a wooden cell for an extended period of time, but still she took these jobs and all the hating herself that came along. She let his voice ring in her head and tear her apart for her crimes while she knowingly committed them all. She saw her fault in the strung-out humans and Garans alike, witnessed her guilt in the sick who went without medicine when she made off world deliveries, wished she was anyone else when bedraggled homeless children begged for sustenance as she delivered piles of every lavish and ostentatious thing to the rich and powerful. Her brothers could handle it, she knew, but why let them suffer the hearts-sickness that she so often did? She'd always protect them from everything she could, and her parents wouldn't have wanted this for any of them.

Still, the orange and purple world was the best they could've hoped for upon arrival. Even the dodgy work wasn't as skeevy as it was in many places - places her father would've had fits that she even knew existed. No, Garazone Prime was the best place to be until they were ready.

Her dad used to reminisce sometimes with her mum about visits to the planet. Her mum had loved the shops and her dad the scavenging for hidden junk treasure and the peace was always well maintained in the system - for the most part - not many trips here had resulted in running for their lives. Her mum was always the one who pointed that out though and her father would grumble that she'd never complained before.

Perhaps the relative safety had been what prompted her mum to bring them, perhaps she simply knew they'd need to be grounded somewhere with a roaring trade in space junk, whatever the case, she was ultimately glad they were there - even if she _had_ been arrested soon after arrival - but that hadn't been her fault! She was still reeling from sickness and not as discreet as she might've been, sure, but if Lios hadn't been furiously trying to get her to put it all back - which was completely barmy since they were skint at the time and they _needed_ the coils, would have _lost Mum_ and the ship for good without them - they'd have gotten away without a peep, and they'd still be able to go to the shop with all the living circuits. Not a single shop like it on-world either. At least she'd managed to hide it all in a concealed, trans-dimensional inner pocket and they'd used it as sparingly as possible.

She needed to talk to her mum. She'd definitely be doing that when she returned, now she could, or well, would be able to soon. The piece she'd filched, at the expense of a highly offensive taste on her tongue and the lingering stench of a randy Garan minger, was the ticket. And Mum would know what to do about "_John Smith."_ She was the "_John Smith"_ expert after all.

His face was so young, she'd wanted to laugh when she realised who he was. Not that he'd been in control of what he would look like, but honestly! He looked like he could be her only slightly older brother, not her - well he wasn't _that_ anyway, now was he? She ignored that her mother's face looked just as young because she was familiar with it, and the disparity in their ages would only show when the Alpha aged past when her mother had stopped. Hundreds of years to go before that would be an issue. Ages. In any case, _he'd_ never met her or her siblings before, and she didn't know the man he'd become, not really. Didn't matter. Only thing that did was the next step forward. She didn't want it to include Himself, but knew Torin would be noisy about it. Lios she could count on to calm Torin down, but her fool of a sibling would be causing her a headache all to quickly.

She sighed heavily and tugged at her armour-like clothing to make sure it was in its proper place covering every visible inch of her skin. She wasn't cold - didn't get cold except in extreme conditions - but the ritual made her feel better; more prepared to face whatever the future deigned to throw in her direction.

The triplets had a clear ending destination, had _always_ had a clear end, but the footpath was currently a boggy one. They were without both their parents for the first time in 127 years. The Alpha stepped into the leadership role she'd been born for, but was thrown for a proverbial loop with the Doctor's appearance. She'd hoped he would remain ignorant to their existence until their ship was in top form at least.

She hated not having an exit strategy always in place. If at all possible, she'd plan for every eventuality in her extremely capable mind. It was a compulsion as much as a life-saver. That's what had come from a life on the run, she supposed. Her mum and dad would always have several before they set foot into any building, or even stepped onto any alien soil, and were always scanning for potential threats to their children and themselves. They were anomalies in a universe that wasn't made for them, after all.

She'd arrived at the entrance to the ship without realising, she'd been so lost in thought. The hidden door flew open on the wide lavender "tree trunk" and Torin's warm brown eyes searched hers expectantly.

"_Well?_"

She hesitated silently before shouldering past him. "Ye-p. Was Himself all right," she reluctantly confirmed, stepping inside, shucking her coat and casting it aside on the plain grey railing on the ramp that led to the control panels.

Lios was sitting cross-legged on the grating by the dimly glowing console, fiddling with the small, silver sphere she'd stolen earlier. He looked up at her with gentleness and understanding shining in his bright blue eyes and held the device out in a mute entreaty.

"Blimey, not really what I expected, is he?"

"Tell me about it. He's a right wanker too."

Torin screwed his face up into a pout and crossed his arms. He knew better than to challenge his sister's assessment, but it didn't mean he had to like it. Torin was an eternal optimist and romantic. Hearing his sister's account of the Doctor's "misdeeds" in no way damned him in his estimation. The man was a legend. And had been practically on his doorstep. "_And?_" he prodded instead of issuing a challenge.

"And... er... And he wants to… er... visit tomorrow."

Both brothers startled at this proclamation, but she ignored Torin's gasping-fish face and Li's penetrating stare. She didn't really want to talk about it now she was faced with the chore of doing so. She wished fervently they'd drop it and go back to they way things were. Instead of elaborating, she palmed the silvery orb between her hands then twisted. It opened immediately, revealing three tiny golden wires, and started to glow. Lios looked annoyed that she had opened it in less than a second.

"Should give her the boost she needs then, which couldn't be better, actually. I need talk to Mum," she informed her brothers.

"Selene…" Lios started softly. He knew his sister was hurting and he didn't like giving her more bad news. Where Torin was optimistic and effervescent, Lios was reserved and tender. He balanced the both of his siblings opposing natures and kept the peace within the trio. Not an easy job because the Alpha was irascible and cutting at times, and Torin liked to poke the sleeping bear for kicks.

Her golden-honey eyes snapped to his icy-blue and he furrowed his thick blond brows. He only called her that when he needed her to really take his meaning or to stop her from, well, whatever, honestly.

He was the only one that could keep her in line, Torin was usually busy aiding her in her shenanigans anyway. Lios was quiet, intense, observant and cautious. She relied on him to see into her blind spots. He was her rock and safe place as much as Torin was her right hand and partner in crime.

"Wha's up then, Li?" she nearly whispered.

"Even with this," he told her gently, "it's never enough to bring her back and it'd be wasted in one go. You can't. Not yet."

The Alpha's eyes shot to Torin's and he nodded in confirmation.

Torin was the best with machines. He could fix or improve anything and if he couldn't get it to work yet, she'd just have to accept it. Damn. Another set of hopes dashed in one day. Her earlier triumph had vanished in a puff of silvery smoke and Doctor shaped annoyance.

She only nodded in return and made for the makeshift galley for a cuppa without so much as an eye roll or a scowl. As thoroughly dischuffed as she felt at the news she would have to wait even longer to see and speak with Mum again, she really _was_ going to eat an entire box of biscuits, even if they were getting low and it would mean taking another job.

"So, how'd you tell?" Torin had followed her. He obviously wasn't done asking about the Doctor, and intended to push while Lios wasn't there to stop him. "I mean how - what did he say? Does he - er - know who…?"

She opened a cubby and pulled out a box of chocolate biscuits and a few packets of pickled onion flavoured Monster Munch, still avoiding.

"Nah," she said finally, "couldn't tell 'im anythin' without my brothers with me, could I?"

Torin smiled at her and she returned it gladly, then reached out to touse his long chestnut curls. He smoothed it back down over his largish ears and swatted at her hand.

"'Sides, maybe once he knows, he'll scarper. Could do, you know?" she hedged, not wanting him to forget her reasons for being cautious. "Dad always said he was a right coward sometimes." Her brother open his mouth to object, but she continued like she hadn't noticed. "An' I jus' knew. Think it was when we argued tha' firs' time, actually. He got all hard, an' a bit dicky in the eyes. Was scary, to be honest. Only seen it once before with Dad an' I didn't like it then either. I mean, once he said he was called '_John Smith_' I _really_ knew but… I jus' knew 'cos 's still... him - sort of, innit?" Admitting it was harder than she liked. "Same sort of stupid manner tha' draws the attention of everyone about… He actually tried to use slightly psychic paper on me too, can you believe it? The prat. Doesn' really matter, though, does it? He won't be stayin'."

"Yeah, but-" Torin put in with the gleam of hope in his eyes which drove his sister batty.

"But wha', Torin? _Wha-t?_ Seriously, only thing we knew we could count on was gettin' _here_, yeah? And tha' was down to Mum! Not the stupid, too-important-for-everyone Timelord Doctor! We don't need Himself anyway! It'll always jus' be us three in the end. 'S always how we planned it."

"But I thought you said he asked to come here?" he objected reasonably.

Selene wasn't going to sway him from the hope that had bubbled inside when he'd caught the man's eyes in the club. The Doctor could be... a friend... something good, and they desperately needed some good in their lives just then. It'd been hard for so long, and he was anxious for change.

"Yeah, but tha's 'cos he doesn't _know_ any better, does he?" she all but shouted. "He thinks we're jus' a bunch of strangers with a common interest. One more group of lost people to save or impress. He _isn't_ our family." She let out a huffy sigh and furrowed her brows in thought. "I s'pose you should go get Lios. I reckon we should be all together for this."

Torin nodded and shut his gob, finally sensing his sister was on edge only after he'd nearly pushed her over it, and went in search of his sibling while she munched a biscuit and put the kettle on the little cooker for tea.

Once the tea had been poured and the three were gathered around the table in their tiny galley with their nibbles and accustomed, if chipped, mugs, the Alpha opened the discussion.

"Us three could use a bit of help, yeah?" she admitted grudgingly. Accrediting both sides of an argument was never her strong-suit. "Sortin' things here, gettin' ready for- for the important days to come. It'd speed things up to get advice an' the like- on the ship, _not_ the mission," she acknowledged Torin's hopeful look with a small nod, "maybe even a trip for a part or four. An' tha's good, but not our _only_ option. Dad left us with all the instructions we _really_ need, an' we could do on our own like we planned all along. Take longer, yeah, but it'd be safer. I mean, wha' if he goes mental an tries to take her away?"

Torin made a strangled cat noise in objection, but she held up a hand to prevent his total interruption.

"Tha' might be extreme, but we can't ignore any possible problem, can we? Dad taught us better than tha'. Gotta plan for _every_ outcome. He always said if we were prepared for it to be as bad as it could be, we'd always find a way out of anythin' an' everythin'. Can't really take risks, 'specially right now while she's recoverin' from the crossin', an' so much got destroyed when Mum… yeah. I dunno wha' to think. I was countin' on bein' able to lie low longer… but never mind tha' now. I s'pose I can't ignore tha' the Doctor might be here for a reason, but I also _won't_ ignore tha' we're unprotected an' young an' inexperienced an' alone while our TARDIS heals. All this worry may be for nothin' 'cos who knows how tha' daft old man will react to us, but I've already gotten the feelin' tha' he _really_ doesn't like me an' it could all go pear-shaped right quick. I don't want 'im here. I'm sure you got tha' already, but I need to hear wha' you both think."

The brothers stared at each other for a few minutes before Lios dropped his eyes and a silent agreement was reached. Their older - well, twenty-three minutes and forty seconds older still counted as older - sister would make the final decision as always, and quite right too, it was how it had always been, but the way they posed their arguments would undoubtedly sway her.

Torin knew by his brothers silent submission that Lios would argue caution because that was what Selene expected of him, but he also knew that they were in agreement, and it was up to Torin to convince her. Li would argue first, but not as hard as he might, then Torin would swoop in and seal the deal with some rather brilliant and well-timed positives, and _voilà!_ _Molto Bene!_ They'd be having a cuppa with their father - no! Nooooo, he didn't mean that, he meant the Doctor! Crikey, he'd better watch his gob or he'd blow it, a slip like that would seal it for Selene - a cuppa with _the Doctor_ in the morning. He began tapping his toes and opened one of the packets of crisps.

"Selene," Lios began gently. He knew what he was doing and, though Torin's position was clear from the start, his was crucial to the Alpha's compliance.

Torin's head popped back up and he glared at Lios. _Oi! That was cheating, that was!_ Torin nearly growled in his displeasure. He was sure Lios was sabotaging their meeting with the man who could dictate their futures until his brother winked at him.

"I think we need the Doctor." Lios gave his brother and sister one of his rare, sunlight filled grins that turned the chips of ice in his eyes into oceans of joy and tranquility as they both let their jaws hang open in surprise.

The Alpha recovered more quickly than her middle brother, picking her jaw up off the floor and nodding once to Lios. She then turned to Torin to get either his rebuttal or confirmation.

For once, Torin found himself without words. Was he supposed to argue? What was Li playing at? He ran his hands over his long curly hair a couple of times to buy time, but it wouldn't do. He'd never argue for something he didn't believe, even for his sister, and he was utterly devoted to her. "I agree with Lios." was all he managed to choke out, still just gobsmacked.

"Yeah, okay," was her only reply. She looked unhappy, to put it mildly, but if her compulsively cautious little brother was in agreement with her overly zealous one, perhaps her own fears and prejudices were getting the better of her. She rarely ignored the advice Lios gave, especially since it was rarely bestowed.

She'd never give voice to how much this path frightened her because she saw timelines begin shifting as soon as she uttered her assent, nor to the part of her that felt they were betraying her father's memory, nor that she'd been hoping they wouldn't ask her to lead them in this direction - and so very soon, _too soon -_ where she wouldn't be able to stay, and they'd find so many reasons _to_ do. The thought of being parted from the two beings that were the hearts beating on each side of her chest shattered her, yet they couldn't stay children forever, and this shadow had loomed ever nearer throughout their collective memories.

She'd always had the strongest time senses, and forced the stinging tears behind her eyes to shove off as she watched her brothers' each slowly begin to shimmer into view before her - still faint, yes, but present, and she could only see them if they weren't inexorably bound to her own. She resisted the urge to go back on their agreement to meet with the Doctor.

The first of the flood waters had broken when they crossed the void, now the storm was approaching, waters were rising, and the dam would break.

They all stood and exited the galley silently and headed to the console room where the large pallet of cushions sunk into the grating awaited them.

Without any more words they all settled in, seeking the comfort of closeness which only children born in multiples share. The Alpha in the middle, her Beta on her left, and Omega on her right. They didn't sleep often - and it was almost always for comfort rather than need - but they'd never slept singly, nor in any other position than this familial embrace that re-affirmed their connection and bond. As they had from their earliest memories, the men instinctively curled into her surrounding and protective, fingers interlacing, the way which they had from the time of earliest infancy when they weren't aware of anything beyond the six hearts beating between them.


	5. Tea and Time Lords

**A/N: Don't own 'em. Wish I did, but I don't.**

**Let me hear from you!**

* * *

Having had a kip before making his repairs, a few hours in the vortex saw both the TARDIS and the Doctor rejuvenated with hope and well-being. It was incredible what a little time in a hammock could do for his outlook, and he was experiencing a hope and excitement he hadn't dared let himself when he'd first set out to locate his people. The Doctor therefore saw no reason to wait for morning, and instead jumped forward a few hours, re-parking closer to the pitch where he was to meet with Alpha, or "_Sally Woolfe"_ as she was calling herself.

Friend or foe, the girl was the key to unlocking this mystery.

He gorged on a plateful of jammy dodgers and nursed a cup of tea sweetened with Venusian honey, before making to leave. It was a far cry from the fried food he'd picked at the night before and, again, it did him wonders to indulge in a couple of his favourite things. All in all, he felt sure he'd be equal to whatever lay before him.

On his way out the doors, the TARDIS nudged him mentally. She didn't usually. She mostly kept their communication to dire circumstances or comfort in his very low moments, but she seemed almost chipper after weeks of suffering malfunctioning systems and perhaps that was why she deigned to catch his attention, like a fussy mother making sure he was ready for the day ahead.

He stopped for a moment by the time rotor and stroked the console lovingly. Whatever the reason for her communication, he was glad to have it and her on his side.

It therefore surprised him when she sent him a wave of warning which contained hints of admonishment... and that blasted image of puppies, thoroughly confusing him.

"I'll be careful, Sexy. I will," he promised, still under the impression that she was concerned for his safety in the imminent meeting with the mercenary-thief-mean-to-bunnies-and-other-fluffy-animals-girl.

Impatience and exasperation hit him like a slap to the back of his head.

"Oi, what the devil was that for?" he winged. He was clearly missing something, or she was still in need of repair. Perhaps he should take them back to the vortex for a few hours and he could have a look.

Instead she opened her doors and sent the blasted image of puppies.

"I don't want a dog!" he shouted in bemusement. She was definitely still in need of repair if that was what she wanted. "Blimey, you're getting demanding! And you won't like having one here either!" He turned back toward the console and began putting in coordinates for the vortex.

Puppies again followed by a wave of love and affection, which most certainly were not directed at him, oh no, because not half a second later she shocked the fingertips resting on her console. He put the hurt fingers in his mouth and glared at the time rotor.

"What was that for, then? Because I won't bring you home a hairy little beast that will chew parts of you off, you daft cow?"

He received the mental equivalent of an eye roll and a huff of exasperation. A short message in Gallifreyan appeared on the monitor.

_ Be nice.  
_

Or rather the equivalent of. It actually advised him to behave in a manner which honored those with whom he kept company - past, present, and future - by keeping conversation pleasant. But one didn't simply say, "be nice," in his mother tongue.

Lovely.

And a bit rich.

"What are you on about then?" he asked as the monitor went dark again.

She sent an image of a black wolf, then the message popped back onto the screen.

_Be nice._

"What?" He was utterly baffled. "You've never even met her and already you're telling me off for things I have yet to begin contemplation of doing! What do you care about this girl? _She's the bad guy!_ I'm going to find out what she's done to the people we're meant to be finding!"

She shocked the fingers touching the monitor, supremely unimpressed with how thick he was being.

"Watch it! Or I'll disconnect something you need, you mental box of wires!"

Electricity hummed threateningly from the metal surfaces around him.

"Fine! I'll _be nice_! Is that good enough for you? Would you like a contract signed in blood? I still don't see what the devil it matters to you!" he shouted and stalked outside before she could make good on her threat to shock him again.

She really was getting out of hand lately, and he would be having a look at her circuits. She rarely even liked companions, let alone cared how he behaved to strangers! He'd been offending half the universe for centuries without so much as a peep from her! Did some ancient propriety program from her original programming short in the delta wave assault? Did those even exist? And the bloody dogs? Just what the hell was she on about?

Fingers still in his mouth and scowling at everything, he emerged from the alley and looked down the half-block toward the park where he instantly spotted the leather-clad woman watching him with an amused half-smile playing about her lips. He shook off the annoyance (mostly), smiled as charmingly as he could manage and waved at her, then dried his fingers on his jacket before advancing.

The bright white ball was steadily climbing in the violet sky in the short Garazonian day, and the street was already filling with the multitudes of buyers and merchants who made the planet thrive in the intergalactic marketplace. She was alone in the crowd, no brothers to meet him, and he hoped that meant they would go right to her ship's hiding spot. His domestic with the TARDIS had sapped him of his good mood and desire to be sociable.

As he approached, she eyed his burned fingers with furrowed brows. "Hurt yourself?" Amusement was obvious despite the concern the words expressed.

He scowled again. "My ship…" he muttered, "repairs, you know, can be tricky and all that. Good morning! Sleep well?"

"Yeah, not bad, I s'pose." She shifted on her feet and looked around her awkwardly. "Erm, had any nosh yet? My brothers are waitin' down at the tea shop 'round corner. Or 's a pub open not too much further down the way tha' makes brilliant Scotch eggs-"

"NO!" he interrupted vehemently. The last thing he wanted was to spend hours in a pub with them, so he nipped it in the bud. "Eugh! Gah! _Why_ would you even- Scotch eggs are evil. How- how can you eat those?" His panicked look melted into a comically suspicious glare. "You trying to poison me, eh?" He gave a great shudder and smiled at her again, charming to the last.

"Really?" She shook her head with a tight-lipped, crooked smile. She rolled her eyes and studied him, all traces of awkwardness evaporating with what he presumed was her fascination at his strangeness. "You'll jus' take tea then," she breezed. "Keep up, _John Smith_, places to be an' all," and set off graceful and silent at her brisk pace, leaving him staring after her open-mouthed at her audacity to order him about.

She was obviously used to making the calls and not waiting for input or opposition. He wondered how her brothers liked that.

Bit rude, it was - she was. He'd had his tea - did she ask? No! She did _not_. He wasn't in the mood for niceties and being chatty. He was impatient to get into to this ship that had eluded his search efforts and held the promise of answers, but he resigned himself to moving at her pace and keeping things friendly - well, until they couldn't be - _if_ they couldn't be - any longer.

He still didn't like her - well, he didn't think he did, no, she was, well, too much like him, now he thought about it, but _he_ had lived over 1000 years and this _child_ shouldn't be ordering him or anyone about. Well, she didn't know how old he was, actually, now he considered it properly, and he did have a young - and rather charming - face this time, didn't he? Perhaps, no, most likely she assumed he was around her age, so bossing him should be forgiven, he supposed. Some people were just that way. No, no, he probably, definitely should reserve judgement.

Still, she'd shouted at him, and referred to him as "Bow-tie," and called him a wanker, and thrown a stone at him, and followed him around like a spy - and she was probably aware of what a Time Lord was if she had his people prisoner - and sneaked up on him, then ordered him about, and was delaying what she'd promised the night before! And she was secretive, they all were. They were definitely hiding something. Shifty, she was shifty. Yes, he had reason to dislike her.

"You comin' or wha'?" she called from nearly a half a kilometre up the already thronging high-street. "Chivvy on, you great lump! Day's burnin' away while you stand there!"

Right, yes! He flailed his hands and padded after her.

She didn't slow to wait and ducked into a little shop before he could reach her. It was an empty little hole in the wall with dim lighting and mismatched tables and dusty, toile chairs. A few scattered patrons, mostly Garans with an odd human here and there, drank tea from chipped, flowery sets, and the pungent scent of dried leaves and spices assaulted his superior olfactory receptors. Still, it was cozy enough and they wouldn't be tempted to spend vast amounts of time there. One didn't linger over tea in the same manner as ale.

When he approached the table, he had tea already poured for him and a jam butty waiting. That was friendly at least. He picked it up and stuffed half of it into his mouth, filling it to bursting. It was a jam he particularly enjoyed, raspberry, though they couldn't have known that. He just wanted to move on and this would save time.

Three sets of eyes were watching him intently.

"O'lo'ere," he said as he chewed, then waggled a limp hand at them.

The taller man with shoulder length brown curls grinned dazzlingly, while Alpha shook her head and rolled her eyes, and the man with gravity defying blond hair and eyes like the frozen waves on Women Wept remained stonily impassive.

The girl huffed and muttered under her breath, "Five. _Five_ credits on a sandwich he takes all of half a second to eat..." She tugged her muffler a bit tighter and forced a smile. "So, _John Smith._"

Why did she keep saying his name like that? Like it was a private joke at his expense? He furrowed his brows and pushed back his fringe with one hand.

"I'd like you to meet my brothers." She indicated the man with brown curls to her left with a thumb over her shoulder then hesitated for a second and swallowed, interesting… "This is Torin, an' tha's," the other thumb pointed to the blond with the inscrutable face, "Li. Sorry, Lios."

"Pleasure, lads." He smiled and extended a hand to each in turn, which they took in gloved hands and then seated themselves. "Does your sister drive you as mad as she's made me over the last two days?" He slumped into his blue patterned, threadbare chair like a graceless albatross. "Right nightmare, isn't she? Don't know how you manage, to be honest. She chucked a stone at me - _hit_ me _with a rock_ to get my attention last night, you know. I've got a bruise and everything," he tattled and grinned again now that his mouth was no longer full of jammy bread.

Shock registered on all three faces for a tick, then Torin guffawed and Lios chuckled while her brows knitted together and her face went a bit red.

"Oi! Whose side 're you lot on anyway?" she admonished in a low voice. She smacked both of them on the arms with the backs of her hands.

Lios sobered almost immediately, while Torin only laughed harder, nicked the rest of her sarnie, and shoved it in his gob in one go.

"Eugh!" He let the half-chewed sandwich roll out of his mouth and onto the floor as he began furiously scrubbing at his tongue with the prissy-pink cloth from the table. "_Marmite!_ You're trying to kill me, aren't you?"

That one he liked right off.

"No one told you to be a grabby git!" She shook her head in exasperation and sipped her tea loftily. "Not my fault you always pop things in your mouth tha' don't belong there, is it? An' you _might_ enjoy it if you gave it half a chance! 'S nice!" The girl seemed more outraged that he'd insulted her taste buds than stolen her breakfast.

"Tried feeding me Scotch eggs earlier," the Doctor leaned across the table and confided conspiratorially.

Torin looked suitably horrified.

The Doctor nodded and tapped his own nose once. "She's got to be stopped."

The girl was scowling, and still red-faced as the silent brother drew her into an embrace and she relaxed slightly, and the ruddy colour receded.

Taking in the three of them together gave him a strange feeling, a bit of a niggle perhaps, and he tried to absorb the picture they painted.

They looked incredibly close in age, in fact, he'd be very extremely hard-pressed to tell you who belonged where in the birth order. As far as looks went, they were different enough that they might not actually be related - none of them shared hair, nor eye colour, nor an exact build type, and each had his own affected manner of dress, not to mention, only slight familiarity in speech patterns, and one of them was glaringly different in accent.

Alpha looked like she was armouring herself against the world with her leather, and the utilitarian colour palette which covered nearly every inch of flesh from view. She could have scales instead of skin under it all, he'd never know. Her face was angular, with high cheekbones and heavy, inky-black eyebrows. Her jaw was square; haughty-looking, and her lips pouty and in sharp relief against the ivory colour of her skin. And of course her eyes were the colour of warm honey - even if they didn't conjure up the same feeling when looked into as the last pair he'd seen in that shade. She didn't smile often, mostly dead-panning her wise-cracks, expressing herself with her eyebrows, and she moved like a predatory animal. Haughty. Sleek. Calculated. Deadly.

Torin struck him as more ostentatious, preferring a striped blue suit, an Oxford in a violent shade of purple, and blue tie patterned with silver swirls and stripes under the large brown wool overcoat he wore to hide himself from the world. He was the tallest and most gangly of the lot, and was apparently unaffected by the madness in front of him. It may have been that madness was something he enjoyed. He smiled and laughed easily. He seemed… goofy, and relatively unaware of it. His face was more pinched than angular, and conveyed much more openness than either of the others. His eyes were a warm, chocolate-brown like his mop of curly hair, which was nearly as long as his sister's, and covered rather prominent ears. He was openly affectionate with the other two, which they didn't seem to mind but didn't initiate.

Lios seemed the most enigmatic. He observed at a distance from the fray of activity; his chair even slightly set farther back than the rest, and was certainly not chatty in the way his siblings were. He was only a bit taller than his sister, but the opposite in colouring. He was pale blond, with short hair that pointed skyward with seemingly little effort, and had softer, rounder features. He remained mostly buried in his own oversize brown trench, but the Doctor could make out a bit of green velvet over a silver waistcoat underneath. He unabashedly watched the Doctor watching them, took in every being who entered and exited the shop, and, the Doctor had no doubt, still caught every word being said around him. His large, heavy-lidded eyes looked cold and reserved, but they spoke of a buried tenderness and vulnerability as well.

Three utterly mismatched children, yet they shared an undeniable commonality as well. They were all quite tall, sleek like runners, but the similarity was beyond physicality. They _fit_ together in a way which couldn't be articulated. They belonged; would be irrevocably damaged if they were separated. They gave the impression that audible communication was for his benefit only, and that they would be quite fine, thank you, without the fuss. The girl seemed infinitely more relaxed in the presence of her brothers, and far less likely to explode when goaded. He thought about the way she had mentioned that they only had each other the night before. It was obvious she had given him the truth, even if she hadn't meant to. These children were integral to each other in a way he'd never understand.

He decided to peek at their timelines, and found that they were invisible to him.

All of them.

Strange.

And interesting.

They would have a mutual importance, he and they, for good or ill, then.

"So why do you speak differently from your brothers? Are you all really related, or are you a family only in name?" When she adopted a sour look, he hastily added, "Not that there's anything wrong with that, mind you, love an adopted family. Best kind there is, actually, in my experience, but you're all very different. Just wondering, you know," the Doctor blustered, unable to keep his mind from straying to the Ponds, and busied himself with his flowery teacup and lukewarm tea as he spoke.

"Oh, that's just because she talks like Mum and we don't. We're triplets, actually, even if we don't look it," Torin offered, oblivious to his sister's mood. "The genetics in our family are batty and confusing, and full of strange possibilities which resulted in us as we live and breathe. Funny story, that," he blurted carelessly, swigging his tea casually and preparing to carry on when his sister shot him a scathing look. He shrank back into his seat, properly chastened.

"Yeah? Mum from old London Towne then?" the Doctor countered.

Torin glanced at Alpha but remained quiet. They really did have a remarkable dynamic, didn't they?

"Yeah," she answered finally, but said no more.

"Earth then? How did you find yourselves all the way on Garazone Prime? You're pretty far from home."

Alpha seemed to be mulling over how to answer this when Lios, who had been watching his sister carefully since he'd asked about London, spoke up instead.

"We crashed here," he said in a softer voice than the Doctor had imagined. He leaned forward as he spoke, resting his elbows on the table and tenting his fingers. "We were born on Earth, but left when we were very young. Only been here about six Earth-months."

He turned with purpose to meet his sister's furious gaze, refusing to break under the intensity, and the Doctor was positive the three shared at least a low-level telepathic connection. Those two were absolutely shouting at each other behind their eyes.

The girl finally jumped up out of her chair and stalked heavily out of the shop, but the flaxen brother ignored her pointedly, returning his intent gaze to his hands and sighing.

"She do that often?" he demanded, then shook his head with a frown and pushed at the hair in his face.

The Doctor didn't like feeling confused - as a matter of fact, was getting rather angry - especially since one of them - the one who had promised the result he needed - had just swanned off and he'd still not seen even a glimpse of the fabled ship, _and_ he was through putting up with all the evasion and mystery. Now that the largest, stubborn-girl-shaped obstacle had done a runner, he was set on demanding the truth of either man who would look at him, when blue eyes met his, and a warm golden pulsing filled the back of his mind. The heady feeling left him a bit dazed since he hadn't been shielding at all, but the presence went no further than the mental "hello," so to speak.

"We haven't been very forthcoming with you, Doctor, and I think it's time you had the truth."


	6. A Young TARDIS

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor profit from the writing of this story. Weeell, excepting creative satisfaction. But not monetary. The profit is all in the joy!**

**I do promise you real Rose Tyler in the future, but some plot points have to be covered first! I'm getting excited!**

* * *

The Doctor couldn't respond for a few minutes. He was so overcome with the whirlpool of emotion and thought that it was all he could do not to cry out or jump from his seat and tackle the young man in an embrace which would send them both sprawling on the floor in the dingy little tea shop. The first time he'd felt them, their pain had been so great and the connection had been so brief, the relief - the indescribable need for another presence in his mind finally being fulfilled when he'd believed for so long that he'd never have it again - didn't factor. Now though…

He stared agape at the miracle before him without breathing long after his repertory bypass kicked in.

Question after question ran amok in his brain but no sound escaped his lips. He seemed to have lost the ability to speak and it was the other brother -Torin, yes - who recalled him to his senses.

"Crikey, that's new!" he chuckled awkwardly. "A speechless Doctor? Well done, Li. You gonna sit there all day then, Doctor? Did he break you? That'd be a laugh, wouldn't it? The Doctor stuck in a tea shop on Garazone Prime for all of eternity after meeting his three Time Lord ch-chums! Well, could be, maybe, chums that is. Fantastic story for the grandchildren one day! C'mere Johnny and Susie, did I ever tell you about the time I shattered the man who saved the universe loads of times? In a tea shop on a purple planet too! Brilliant!" He smoothed his curls nervously on the sides of his head and shoved the big brown coat from his shoulders and it puddled around the back of him. The silence stretched for another minute after his little speech and he began drumming his fingers on the table and wiggling a foot. "Well, you must have something to say! You do care, right? I mean, the Alpha said you'd probably just do a runner, but you haven't, have you? Well, I mean, if you wanted to just get out of it, you could've done, so, yeah. Say something, will you?"

"Shut up, Torin," Lios muttered and punched his brother's shoulder.

"Oi!" Torin punched back harder than he'd gotten, causing Lios to clutch at his shoulder with a grimace. "You don't boss me! I boss you, remember? I'm older by eleven minutes and seventeen seconds! Respect your elders!"

"Let the man have a moment!" Lios insisted softly through gritted teeth.

"He's had nine minutes and thirty-one seconds already!" Torin practically squeaked, "It's driving me mad just sitting here!"

"Go on then and get out of it!" The younger man's voice had lost its soft quality and he spoke with real command. "Go find Alpha if you can't sit quietly, anything to shut that almighty gob!"

"No!" Torin countered with all the petulance of a thwarted two-year-old. "I want to talk with the Doctor! I shouldn't be chucked out because she's stubborn and scared, and I'll remind you again,_ I'm older!_ You go after her, then. I don't want to be the one she rages at when _you're_ the prat who caused it. You know she's going to throw things too! How's that meant to be fair that _I'd_ have to be target prac- Wait a tick, shut up! He's coming around now."

The Doctor looked at them but still had no idea where to begin, so instead he reached his own mind out and greeted them both warmly with a mental nudge.

They both broke into sunny grins and chimed a simultaneous, "Hello."

"I don't know where to begin." The Doctor's voice sounded strained even to his own ears, and it was true, he didn't.

These men were impossible, and he had believed the worst about them not twenty minutes ago. They talked about being born - not loomed - and had said they came from Earth - to whom did they belong? And how? _How?_ Were they… Were they... Susan's? Hidden away and... no... that couldn't have been possible. She'd carried the same curse of sterility as all Gallifreyans, and her own children had been loomed. And he knew she would've said. Even if she'd lost them, she would've told him...

"How…? How."

Torin grinned maniacally again. "Probably best if we don't go into it here, yeah? Want to meet our ship?"

"Meet your… Oh. Oh! You have a… Yes!" They had a _TT Capsule_! Of course they did. They were utterly impossible, so of course they had an utterly impossible timeship too. "Yes, please."

They led him to the copse he had once searched fruitlessly and walked right up to a tree with knobbly, lavender bark. Torin inserted a key into a prominent knot.

Chameleon circuit! Not cloaking device! No wonder! It hadn't been invisible, it had been hiding in plain sight!

He opened the doors with a flourish and bowed to the Doctor. "Won't you come in, sir? Wonders await!"

"He's got a TARDIS, idiot," Lios rolled his eyes. "He's not going to be impressed."

"Ah, that's where you're wrong," the Doctor admonished. "I've been inside hundreds of Time and Relative Dimension in Space ships, and they are always wondrous and impressive." He smiled. "And this is one of the only two left in the universe. Of course I'll be impressed."

A pang of fear and dread stabbed at his hearts. What if they didn't know about the Time War? What if they were trying to get back to Gallifrey, and he'd just killed their hopes - in addition to the planet they sought - with a few careless words? No shock registered, however, and they all filed in through the narrow door in the lavender tree bark.

It wasn't the most beautiful ship he'd ever seen, not by a long shot. It looked as if it had been thoroughly battered, and it was quite small in comparison to his own, with the console filling much of the space in the room, and one set of stairs leading off to the only adjoining room marked in the circular language of his people as the galley. Grey, organic coral made up nearly everything surrounding them, from the railing and grating, to the buttons on the console, with little in the way of comfortable additions for living. It was dim and altogether cave-like, with the most light coming in the form of a weak, blue-green rotor glow. A small alcove contained a sleeping area sunk into the grated, coral floor, and wires and parts were haphazardly piled everywhere that wasn't essential for movement.

No, it was not the most beautiful ship he'd ever encountered, but it was the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. Gorgeous! Brilliant! Fantastic and magnificent!

It smelled of time and felt like freedom.

It was a TARDIS!

The brothers were eyeing him - Lios with feigned nonchalance, as if the Doctor's opinion on the subject were of little import to him, and Torin with unfettered hope and anticipation.

"Well?" the anxious brother breathed with a vulnerable smile.

The Doctor's face lit up with a megawatt smile that was completely genuine. "It's bigger on the inside."

The roar of laughter that followed from both lads was music to the old man's ears.

"Bit quiet, can't hear or feel her at all, but she's brilliant! Truly. What type is she?"

"Technically Type 40 Mark III, but as you know she's a bit - er - raw, and we've had to make improvisational adjustments," Torin answered.

"Nooo! How did you manage that? Mine was the last Type 40 in - ages and _ages_ ago!"

He raised his shoulders in an exaggerated shrug with a knowing grin. "Time's weird, innit?"

"I suppose I can't deny the truth when it's staring me in the face, can I?"

He grinned and shook his head. "Bit knackered though. She closed all her rooms but these when she crashed - not that she had many, mind you, just two bedrooms, a library, and the galley, but, well, she's amazing, yeah?"

"Absolutely. Why so small? I mean, I've a Type 40, and only _five_ rooms?"

"Well, she's still a baby! Hasn't had time to grow as large on the inside."

"What? Never! How old is she then?" That made about as much sense as naturally born Time Lords on planet Earth. Where the devil had they gotten the coral to grow if she was still this small? And how? And did that mean she was unregistered and, dare he think it, unaltered? As in, unrestricted? No time-locked restraints? Completely barmy.

"One hundred and twenty-nine," he grinned. "She started growing when we were still cookin' in Mum. Wouldn't grow before that, actually, no matter what Dad tried."

"Yeah, that's going to take some explaining, I think. None of you is exactly possible, you know. Impossible is apt, actually. In a rather extreme way."

Both men grinned again, but it was the younger man who spoke this time, "Impossible doesn't exist in our family."

"Yeah," his brother joined with a manic grin and a finger pointed at his brother, "we eat it for elevenses."

"Breathe it like oxygen." His brother pointed back.

"Wear it to church on Sundays!"

"And then bin it because it's rubbish!" they finished together, laughing.

When the Doctor didn't immediately cotton on, Lios continued, "Grab a bit of floor, Doctor. It's quite the story and it'll take a while. Would be easier if we just showed you." He touched his own temple to explain, and the Doctor was bowled over once again that he was standing in a young TARDIS with two young Time Lords that were filling the void in his mind for the first time in hundreds of years.

As if someone had started to roll the reel on a film, the memories began, but they didn't belong to the blond man projecting them, no. The memory he was currently speeding through was one of his own - sort of.

And it started on a lonely beach.

_ He was kissing Rose Tyler with an armful of TARDIS coral as a Blue Box faded away with a whoosh which was barely discernible over the crashing waves._

_ Then she was tearing away from him and screaming for the Blue Box to come back, dissolving into tears, and sinking into the sand where she wouldn't move or speak to anyone for the next five hours and thirty-five minutes._

_ He scooped her into his arms after, and cradled her to his chest_ _the entire Zeppelin ride back to London._

_ She wouldn't look at him, and as soon as they arrived, she bolted from him, and hid in Pete's town car._

_ This memory faded into day after day of knocking on Rose Tyler's bedroom door and sitting on the floor just outside, talking at her with no response. He told her about himself then. Told her everything. Held nothing back about who he'd been, the things he'd seen and done, the monster he'd eventually become, and his role in the Time War. _

_ It took weeks to get through it all, and she never responded - even though he would start early in the morning and not leave until he could no longer keep his eyes open at night. Servants brought them both trays, but he never saw her face even once while he told her his stories. _

_ He told her about losing his will to live after the war was over and he'd murdered them all. He told her how he'd gone looking for the worst situations he could get himself into, all in the hopes that he might be killed and never regenerate. _

_ Eventually, he talked about finding himself in a shop basement in London, and a blonde girl who was nearly killed by Autons - until he took her hand and told her to run. _

_ He told her he'd been smitten with her the moment to looked into the girl's eyes and had never before asked anyone to go with him twice. He told her what that little pink and yellow human meant to him almost immediately. How the girl made him feel like pieces of himself weren't lost forever, and that he had a purpose with a future to move toward. _

_ He told her about every time he almost kissed her. He told her about every time he was on the verge of doing much more than just kissing her. _

_ He told her about the fear he'd had of losing her - his lifeline and link to life - and how that thought shattered and haunted him. _

_ He told her about one of the worst days of his lives and standing against a white wall for hours. _

_ He told her about the years he spent floating in the vortex immediately after researching and looking for some way - any way to get to her. _

_ He told her another worst day of his lives when he saw her sobbing on a cold lonely beach and he failed to tell her how much he loved her, instead saying the most daft things imaginable and running out of time. _

_ That was when she finally opened the door. She didn't come out, but the invitation was clear._

_ This faded into a wedding with the most beautiful bride in any universe and the luckiest bastard as her bridegroom._

_ Years of memories of adventures working for Torchwood and trying futilely to get the TARDIS to grow. Frustration and despair that they both felt because they were restless missed the stars. _

_ Years of staring into the mirror and seeing grey hair and lines forming while his incredible wife stayed young and impossible. Running tests in the dead of night to try to keep her secret. Nicking a perception filter so that she would appear to look older.  
_

_ Then an anniversary dinner in the quiet of their back garden and a gift of baby trainers._

_ Elation._

_ A first scan at the doctor's office where he was informed they would be having six - six - babies! Running his own scans and hearing the six beating hearts and knowing he was really having three children. _

_ The fear when Rose didn't look pregnant even after six months, even though she was carrying three babies. The worry he felt constantly. They'd told everyone but her family that she'd lost the babies to hide the alien nature of her predicament. The mad scramble to figure out what to do. Time Lords didn't exist in this universe outside of the three in her belly and he had no TARDIS library to go searching through for historical information. He was as unprepared and lost as she was. _

_ They floundered and fought. It seemed like they'd separate for a while, she even packed her bags a few times, but he couldn't allow that. He needed her and his children so very, very badly, so he fought for her as hard as he fought any war in his life. It made them stronger in the end._

_ She started to show after eight months. They played it off like she had just gained a bit of weight. _

_ After twelve they announced she was pregnant again. _

_ After eighteen months the whispers began. _

_ After twenty he started trying to find a ship to take them off-world. _

_ By twenty-two months they were on the run, her entire family killed in an 'accident' and a global man-hunt was in progress for the two of them. _

_ After twenty-nine months, Rose was too big and knackered to run and he had a lead on a ship. At twenty-nine and a half, they had a space craft in desperate need of repair. _

_ At thirty Rose went into labour.  
_

_ After three days, twelve hours and fifteen minutes, he had a glorious daughter, who was the very image of her mother, and two perfect sons... and a wife who looked like she'd never let him touch her again. He'd stayed by her side and delivered each child himself in the medical bay on the broken-down starship he had procured.  
_

_ They ran. He'd gotten the ship in working order before his children were a year old and they scarpered. _

_ Their days were filled with exploration once again, and he and his wife hadn't been as happy in years. He had days full of family and adventure and nights full of Rose. It was sheer bliss. And it was tiring.  
_

_ He was aging, his body less cooperative, and often protesting the physical requirements of not only raising three Time Tots, but maintaining his own mostly-Gallifreyan system. One heart was not enough. It was enlarging having to do double duty to cope with the requirements of his body. He slept more. He ached more. He secretly started taking non-MAOI heart medications that he devised himself. He wasn't sure how he would react to anything available to humans in the time period, and he had too much at stake to be poisoned by an aspirin-like additive.  
_

_He didn't tell Rose about any of it - couldn't yet, but knew it would be inevitable at some point. He didn't like to admit he was any less than the Doctor she deserved. Didn't even like admitting it to himself, let alone worrying his family...  
_

_ The children grew exceptionally slow. He explained to his wife that the time energy in that universe made it harder for them to develop at a normal growth rate. The same problem they faced with the TARDIS coral - which had started developing some time after Rose had first established a telepathic connection with the babies in her belly. Ten years passed before his children were no longer tots, but they were brilliant. Completely genius. They slept - when they slept - in the same bed curled around each other, limbs entwined, and would always waken simultaneously. Always inseparable.  
_

_ His daughter was his pride and joy, all pink and yellow and fiery like her mother, and as adventurous and energetic as her father. Completely fearless. She possessed a brain like a sponge, and a thirst for truth and justice. His sons followed her around like ducklings, earning them their nicknames Alpha, Beta, and Omega - like the little wolf pack that they were. She often spoke for all three, when they spoke at all - they preferred telepathic communication, and had to be reminded constantly to not be rude - and they obeyed her directives like gospel. She protected them from everything, real and imagined, and loved them all with a loyalty which was unshakable.  
_

_ His sons began to look like him and he revelled in their energy and wit. His middle son took most after him as he was in his current body: quirks, charm and gob; all limbs and manic energy, completely knackering his parents daily with his running and inquisitive nature. More than once he'd driven his mum to distraction by taking apart every appliance they owned to build some idea he'd come up with. She'd shout, and he always tried to be stern, but his son would always catch his eye conspiratorially and he couldn't help feeling more than a little proud of whatever mischief he'd managed.  
_

_ His youngest was brilliant, introverted, observant, and utterly sweet and compassionate. He took in stray animals and seemed to tame them with an ease that spoke of his gentle soul, and delighted in the joy of others. He was always able to diffuse the arguments which frequently arose between his brother and sister in a way that they almost never realised he was even doing so. He was less inclined toward mechanics or studies than they, but he understood people instinctively, and solved problems with an ease and wisdom that belied his age. Rose said he took after her as a child and he didn't doubt it for a second. _

_ The memories of their adventures were tinted with pride and protectiveness. They continued in the Doctor's mind as he watched the children grow and Rose come into her own power. She had never consciously tried tapping into the Bad Wolf until the kids were seventeen - though they only physically resembled nine-year-olds - and a rogue Sontaran ship had been chasing them. Their shields wouldn't take another direct hit and they had no hope of rescue. She left no trace of the Sontaran ship behind and had cried for days over what she had done - even if it had been the instinct any mother would have. She emerged from the experience determined to gain better control._

_ And she had. Rose Tyler could do anything, couldn't she? _

_ After twenty-five years of navigating the universe with his family on their cobbled together Clomian Starship, he was an old man, his kids were physically the age of young teenagers, his wife still young and beautiful and impossible, and he was dying. He'd taught the triplets to the best of his ability without the resources of the Academy, or a properly stocked Gallifreyan library, but he knew he had not done enough for them. _

_ They needed to know their true names. They needed to open the pathways in their brains which would allow them to fully develop their time senses. They needed to look into the untempered schism.  
_

_ So he had one last trip planned._

_ He found Gallifrey. _

_ Weeell, the planet that shared all the same physical location and topography as the planet of his birth. No Time Lords had ever walked upon its surface. _

_ Until they landed, that is. _

_ His miraculous wife and daughter supported him and his weary bones as his family, which made up his whole world, trekked through the silver and crimson forests he'd never thought to see again. Tears coursed down his wrinkled face as he stroked the silver bark of the trees._

_ They found the untempered schism exactly where it should have been. It was in the centre of a clearing caught in a perpetual state of flux between birth and death. _

_ His children approached with caution and gazed in, each taking in the unimaginable everything. _

_ Pain shot through his chest and shoulder. He coughed and ignored it. _

_ Golden tendrils of energy emerged from the schism like glittering tentacles of time and surrounded them as they joined hands, his daughter between his sons. _

_ He moved toward them as his shoulder continued to ache and the energy grew in intensity, swirling and prodding at them leaving trails on their exposed skin and seeking entrance. His legs no longer supported him as he tried to reach out to his children - pull them away from the unknown threat - and he fell to his knees clutching his shoulder. Rose caught him in her arms and prevented him from collapsing completely. He moaned helplessly as they were consumed in a blinding light, and his pain became overwhelming, until everything went black._

The vision ended and the Doctor came back to reality with soaked cheeks and a heaviness in his hearts.


	7. Faffing About in Alleyways

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who. I just faff about in alleyways with aliens and words. Because reasons.  
**

**Selene isn't likeable. I know this. I'm sure you know I did it on purpose. She has her own arc as a character to get through in which she will become very loveable, but for now she's hard to like. Each of the triplets are facets of both their parents and the Alpha got a lot of the stuff we don't like about the Doctor - specifically 9, 7, and 6. Anger, snark, bitterness, manipulation, compulsion, high-handedness, haughtiness, righteousness, and insecurity. But all of it is surface and reactionary and not who she is at her core. **

**As I said, at some point I hope you'll understand her in a way that she is as precious to you as she is to me. This chapter will give a little more insight into why she is the way she is, and it marks the beginning of the greater journey they're all undertaking.**

**With that, ooooh, enjoy it. And leave me a review with your thoughts.**

* * *

The Alpha picked her way through the lower market. She didn't go often because the shop in which she'd been arrested sat smack in the middle of everything, and at least half the merchants would have nothing to do with her. She supposed it was fair enough. She'd made a couple hundred metres of heavy wire disappear into thin air as far as they knew, and Garans were notoriously superstitious. Today, however, she was a little desperate. She'd never wanted to leave anywhere more terribly in her 127 years, so she resolved to scour the lower market for the bobs their TARDIS required.

Nothing was going right. No, not since Himself swanned in and cocked everything up, and now her brothers were getting chummy with him in his stupid bow-tie and braces. Why couldn't he leave well enough alone? Why couldn't he nose out and mind his own business? He was creating fractures and he couldn't even see it. Her careful planning was going down the toilet even as she meandered. She hated when variables popped up in general, and, well, the Doctor was threatening to move from extraneous to confounding in two bloody days.

She couldn't have, in good conscience, lied to her brothers and hidden his presence. Lying was nearly impossible with a bond such as theirs. She could expect them to respect her privacy in what she chose to withhold behind mental barriers, but unless they painfully blocked each other out, it was always merely a respectful courtesy. Doing so would've drawn attention to what she wanted to hide and they'd had their own suspicions fully formed before any confirmation was sought. Still, she wished she'd thought of something which could've persuaded them to at least wait.

Why weren't they listening to her? When did she lose sway? Wasn't the fact that she knew it was a bloody stupid idea good enough? Why did she ever let them talk her in to this? _Why_ wouldn't they listen? Well, she knew why, didn't she? They were being sentimental prats who wanted to go on adventures instead of staying focused. She'd half expect it from Torin, but Lios? The thought inflamed her further and she shoved her fists deeper into her coat.

Li's timeline had stopped flickering in and out of her sight during their argument over tea and settled into permanent shimmering view. She hadn't had the hearts to look at Torin's. It'd broken her enough seeing the one, and she did a runner so she wouldn't break something, or shout, or both. At everyone. It was better she left. Still, not the most mature way to handle knowing her treasured sibling would be leaving her, possibly forever, but how was she supposed to handle it? Good will and nonchalance were totally out of the question; she wasn't a saint and it just wasn't in her nature to be flexible.

Her fears regarding her own fate did nothing to calm her nerves. This meant so much re-evaluating and planning, and just how in control she was going to be were suspect as well. The fact was, she wasn't ready for a goodbye; even if it were possible in their current predicament, she just couldn't let go of the only family she had left. She wasn't ready to be alone, but could she juggle all her responsibilities and this barmy idiot in a maths professor kit? It felt like they three were aboard the Star Cruiser of fate and the bloody Doctor hijacked the navigation systems. She hated it. She hated him.

Who was _he_ to them anyway? No one. Genetic information similar to their own, that was all. He wasn't their father. Their father had been the one who changed nappies, and taught them to fly, and the language of their people, and how to control their telepathy, and how to tell the difference between Clom and Raxacoricofallapatorius. Their father had kept them safe, and loved Mum without ever leaving her... until he died, and it wasn't like he'd had a choice. Their dad was John Noble-Smith, not this Doctor, and John Noble-Smith had been _everything. This_ Doctor was a gingerbread house and her brothers were on the fast track to becoming witch's tea._  
_

She ached for her parents - needed her mum more than ever. She needed advice. She needed understanding. She needed someone stronger and wiser to push her in the right direction and tell her when she was out of order, and she mostly needed someone to tell her she wasn't irrevocably mucking everything up... or at least how to fix whatever she had broken. She smirked thinking about being well over a century old and still needing her mummy, but no one else had a mum like hers, did they? Her mum was, by all rights and technicalities, a goddess. Her mum could see into the heart of things and figure them out in a way that she'd never mastered. Selene got hung up on details and found herself stuck for ages where Rose Tyler would see the big picture instantly.

Without realising, she'd wandered into an alley and was facing a dead-end. With a snort at her own foolish slip, she turned around and saw two figures at the other end blocking her exit as they crept up on her.

_Brilliant._

Didn't mean anything, right? This was a fairly safe planet and she'd just walk past them and-

No dice. She recognised them. They were Binto Basal's, the Garan from whom she'd nicked the Vortex Channeller. Well, then.

"Well, now, if 't ain't tha Alpha. Fancy tha'. Been lookin' fer ya, haven' we, Dib?" the Garan thug with green hair grinned at his counterpart, making him look for all the world like a toothy vegetable.

Garans generally stood a foot taller than the average human, and though not muscular in build, they easily had the upper hand with their long, flexible limbs and speed.

"Gave us tha slip las' nigh', eh Mo?" his orange-maned counterpart responded, stone-faced and threatening. She knew he'd be the more challenging of the two.

"True 'nuff. An' made off wi' my masta's property."

"Yawp, reckon we ought'a take 'er to 'im straigh' away."

"Reckon so."

She was done with their little game of intimidation and lack-lustre wit. "Ah, well, 'fore either of you gets carried away being so terribly clever, wha' am I meant to've stolen?" She smiled as prettily as she could and tried unsuccessfully to mask her contempt. "I seem to recall goin' to the pub an' dancing with your master, but he was smellin' up the place so bad, I had to scarper or I'd'a been sick all over 'im." She was buying time by talking while she checked her surroundings. "Old rotting veg isn't my bag, 'm afraid."

Both turned a rather unflattering ruddy colour, and one - the one with the green sprouting from his cranium - let his hand twitch a moment in the direction of his gun.

Bloody hell, what was wrong with her? She was never this lax in her guard. Angst was stupid. She was stupid for giving in to it. She could've kicked herself.

Mo relaxed the twitchy trigger finger and instead folded his arms to resist temptation. "Mouth on you'll get you in trouble sooner'n you expect. You can call us wha' you like, but I don' reckon you're tha' thick, lass. You'll come quiet, or Dib 'n me'll make ya quiet, but you're comin' jus' tha same."

Her chances of clearing the brick wall behind her before they grabbed her were grim, and she knew their sonic was currently in Torin's pocket, so the steel door to the left and ten paces behind her was out as well. She was well and truly cornered. So she did the only thing logical.

"Lead the way, gents."

Dib, the smarter of the two, frowned and considered her for a moment, then nodded to his counterpart, who roughly took hold of her arm and began pulling her back out the alley. His greater height meant she was dragged along on the tip of her toes, putting her at more of a disadvantage than she'd guessed.

"Oi!" she huffed as he yanked. "Mind the coat! I love this coat! Freddie Mercury gave me this coat!" She pulled her arm away succeeding only in getting both arms seized on either side as a result. "I'm comin' willingly, no cause for the rough treatment, yeah?"

They ignored her protest and continued steering her back into the throng. Wary shop-keeps shot them uneasy glances, some ducking their heads and minding their own, and others shooting her looks that clearly stated she had this coming. Some even broke into wide grins and huddled into each other to gossip. Garans did love their news. Well, she avoided this place for a reason, didn't she?

She berated herself again for being distracted and thick as she shuffled through the multitude of escape routes in her head. It would be easiest to disappear if she went for it while they navigated the crowds, but harder to manoeuvre without possibly hurting innocent bystanders.

Mo had a weapon digging into her side which she could grab in 0.435 of a second, but that'd never work in a crowd - not without landing her squarely behind bars in another three minutes and eight seconds - and Dib was surely carrying one too, so without the sonic to disable it, she'd be in for her second regeneration in less than six months. She didn't fancy that. Wasn't nice the first time, plus they had no way of running from the trouble that would follow a public display of what she was at the moment, and the explosive energy would definitely hurt people - it had all but finished the already beaten up TARDIS last time.

And wouldn't that just be wizard when they all seemed to think she was a devil as it was? Shoot some golden light, injure fifty, and end up a new person. No merchant would sell her a thing ever again.

If she waited until they were skulking down the next alley, she could snatch it and shoot them both in 1.185 seconds - well, less if she didn't set it to stun first, but that wasn't really an option either. She didn't want to kill anyone. She'd still give the locals far too much to talk about, but it was far better than actually walking into Binto Basal's clutches, who she knew in her gut was a slave trader even if he kept his bulbous nose clean enough that she couldn't prove it, and at least they had the option of getting off-world for parts... even if it meant asking Himself for a lift.

Her mind firmly made up, she bided her time.

"So, you lads come here often?" she breezed as pleasantly as possible while they practically dragged her along, pretending she hadn't a care in the world."Sorry 'bout the vegetable crack before. Terribly rude. I like you lot well enough- well, maybe not you two in particular. I mean I like Garans. Orange is a lovely colour, only this painter on Earth used to do these ones of tomatoes an' carrots an olives an' things swimming an' bein' rowdy, an' sometimes, I can't get it out of my head when I look at you. Usually when the intellects 'ave some commonality as well."

They ignored her the best they could.

"D'you know, 's others who look like vegetables too? Sontarans 'ave it much worse'n you lot, an' they don't like anyone or anythin' 'cept fightin'. _You_ might get on, actually, if they didn't jus' kill you for existin' first. Potatoes an' carrots've always complimented each other. Still, historically, your people are peaceful, and Sontarans comin'ere'd be bad news-"

"Shu' it."

She let a few moments pass and more eyes and whispers surround them before starting in again. "See tha' fountain? Funny story 'bout tha' fountain. See, when this planet was first terraformed by you lot - you know you Garans actually came from Andilon, yeah? Left when it was overrun by weevils - nasty buggers, those. Real pests. Deadly. Don't blame you for leavin'. Not many do - know tha', I mean, not leave their planet when weevils overrun 'em, but you knew wha' I meant, yeah? Anyway, not many know tha' 'cos you been here at least six centuries an' cultures tend to forget things like tha' over time when you're not plannin' to move on again. You were _actually_ tryin' to get to a planet in a neighbourin' system called-"

_"Shu'_ it."

She could see the anger morphing into flustered irritation. Good. Where anger brought focus, people tended to make mistakes when annoyed.

"Not a history buff then?" she asked mildly with just a hint of reproach. "Tha's a shame, tha' is. Truly. History is an amazin' thing, yeah? Why, it's the story of now, innit? Everythin' tha' made this very moment possible. Tha's important, don't you think? No one properly appreciates it anymore. I think tha' started in humans, you know? Back in the early Twentieth Century on the original Earth, Earth Prime - or Sol 3, if you prefer, I'm flexible - when people started carin' more about celebrities an' films than tracing blood lines of their ancestors. Plus, everyone pretty much stopped readin' anythin' tha' wasn' a gossip rag - do you lot have those here then? I've been dyin' to catch up on wha' the Face of Boe's been gettin' up to - an' then they could just watch the telly so readin', an' leanrnin' anythin' was chucked out. I mean, in the year 200,100 all anybody watched- or is it watches- or will watch? - well, all they watch-watched-will-watch are reality shows an' games. Barmy if you ask me. Anyway, tha' attitude spread among the different races once the humans started spreadin' out across the stars -"

_"Shu' yo'r bleedin' gob already!"_ Mo hissed.

She smiled smugly. They were nearing the alley she had in mind. Fifteen paces. 6.493 seconds. She just needed them a little more irritated and flustered.

"Sky's lovely t'day, don't you reckon?" she mused in a sweet voice with a smile pointed toward the heavens. "I know of eighteen planets with a sky tha' colour. Wha'd you lot call it? Amethyst? Lilac? Orchid? D'you have those flowers here? Wouldn't likely call the sky orchid if you didn't, now would you? But imagine, tha'! Eighteen! There's here - lovely Garazone Prime, home to two billion of you Garans an' half as many humans, 'course - an' Banobillius Ampiorilastillion Phara-Basillius which has no humans on it 'cos the air is too thin, an' the males of the indig'nous race called Lunians run around starkers an' paint their entire bodies during the full moons - they've two, you know - with huge piles of sh-"

"I _tol'_ ya-"

His blaster was in her hands and they both hit the ground in a blur of movement. She chucked the weapon in a bin, and took off running at break-neck speed before she heard the shouts ringing out behind her.

They'd only been stunned, she told herself. They wouldn't need medical attention... unless they were injured by their falls... which would just have to be an unfortunate result of trying to kidnap people, right? Not that she was sure she was to be kidnapped, maybe severely beaten and... well, she wouldn't think about what they'd planned or she might be temped to go back and inflict more damage. It was easy to push off the guilt when she made them worse in her own mind. Besides, they were sure to be found and attended. It wasn't like she'd left them there to die. She wouldn't think about it anymore. It wasn't helping. Getting away clean was most important.

She weaved her way through the labyrinth of buildings once she'd left the markets behind, staying as entrenched in shadows as she could, her skin humming from the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

She had no interest in returning to their TARDIS and dealing with, well, the reason she'd scarpered in the first place, but it was the only logical bolt-hole, so she navigated down the alleys which would lead back to the pitch where it was hiding amidst the purple trees.

Attention once again back on the even more complicated Doctor conundrum now that she probably needed to get off the planet post-haste, she jumped a wall that separated her from the last alleyway and nearly ran face first into a big blue police call box.

_Oh._

She felt a warmth beneath her polo-neck, and pulled out the glowing key on the silver chain which had belonged to her mum.

Shifting from foot to foot, she stowed the key back under her jumper before starting to walk away.

Not her TARDIS, not her business - even if she was curious.

Well, who wouldn't be, eh? This ship had been the setting for all of her childhood stories, and was practically her gran if you thought about how her mum's life had been so tied to its heart.

Still, _not_ hers.

_ No._

Didn't matter that she had a key, it was still very wrong to go in without an invitation.

_Right?_

The key was suddenly quite hot - burning against her bare flesh. She gasped, and pulled it out again before looking over her shoulder at the big, blue box.

The door to the right swung open on its own.

She waited for someone to come out, but the luminous entryway remained resolutely empty.

Then it nudged her consciousness.

The Doctor's TARDIS was inviting her in.

She furrowed her brows and faffed about with her sleeves and scarf for a few moments.

It nudged her more insistently, sending a wave of love and welcome. The door on the left swung in on itself as well, revealing a tantalising view of glass and glow in a cavernous space.

Well, it was an invitation, wasn't it? And the Doctor may pilot the timeship, but she_ was_ her own being with her own mind, now wasn't she?

She felt a wave of approval and agreement from the incredibly enormous and soothing presence.

She hesitated another moment before closing the distance and striding through the doors, which closed themselves with a squeak behind her.


	8. A Conversation and an Invitation

**A/N: Still don't own Doctor Who.**

**I really tried not to make chin jokes. I told myself when I decided to write Eleven, that I just wouldn't. Sometimes, they're just too hard to resist. I do promise not to call him Chinny, though... maybe.**

* * *

The Doctor wasn't accustomed to his past coming back to haunt him - well, not haunt him, that sounded bad - like Dalek-in-a-basement-in-Utah bad and that certainly wasn't what he meant, no - nor was this like running into and facing Sarah Jane after abandoning her in Aberdeen, or coming face to face again with the Master - or Davros - or hoards of Daleks and Cybermen - or races of aliens that'd had their planets destroyed in the Time War - wait, maybe his past cropped up more often than he thought - never mind, yes, it did do all the time, didn't it? But this was an entirely different thing. An uncomfortable, confusing, very emotional in a sort-of-good-but-mostly-heartswrenching-way thing.

This was seeing the consequences of the second hardest decision he'd ever made. These were Rose Tyler's children... He was leaving it there.

Falling in love had never been on his things-to-absolutely-do list. In truth, he'd fought it and himself every second it was happening. Sure he loved most all of his companions - enough that they broke his heart over and over when they inevitably left him - but he could recall only two instances of being _in_ love. Once when he was very young, which morphed into so much pain and deadly antagonism over the centuries that he could hardly recall how he had ever come to that place, and... _her. _Perhaps it had been the consequence of needing someone so very badly to forgive, love, and accept him after the war and she had just been in the wrong place at the right time. Perhaps it was bigger and more mysterious, but he had been in love with her just the same.

They'd had children. Plural. She'd given him children. Somehow, in all his fantastical imaginings, children were not included. He supposed it was because he himself could not manage it without technological intervention and his fantasies never included the metacrisis capable of anything which he was not.

This TARDIS was the bit of coral - he was inside the bit of coral he'd left on Dårlig Ulv Stranden. They'd managed making that happen too. But then, Rose Tyler didn't let anything as small as improbable odds stop her from anything, did she? It was part of why he had fallen so hard for her to begin with.

And Rose Tyler was not in this TARDIS - even though he had seen first hand that she didn't live a human life and had become something incredible, she was not there. Blimey, he'd just witnessed at least fifty years of her life.

He'd gotten more answers than he'd bargained for, but a whole new set to be answered as well. And knowing where to begin was, once again, a very, very hard thing.

He yanked at his fringe and opened his mouth to say something - anything - then closed it, examined his shoes again, and hooked his thumbs through his braces.

Ah, he had it.

"Got any biscuits?" he asked uselessly.

Oh, that was rubbish, and not what he'd meant to say at all. And why couldn't he look up? His shoes were not as interesting as he was pretending they were. Certainly, these young men were much more so, but he couldn't look them in the face. His chin felt like a lead weight.

"Yeah. Come on, Torin. Let's give the man some room to breathe."

"But- _ow!_ Yeah, okay. We'll do tea too. How do you take it?"

"Milk and two sugars, thanks," he choked then swallowed hard as he heard the clink of boot-clad feet climbing the stairs to the galley. The door closed softly behind them and he heaved a sigh of relief.

He just needed a bit.

His metacrisis had fathered three children with Rose Tyler, and they didn't appear to be very human. He wondered if they'd let him run biological tests in his own TARDIS.

_That_ was good! He could lead with that when they came back. Break the ice with sciencey stuff. Loved sciencey stuff - bet they did too. His metacrisis had likely run every test possible, and the boys could probably tell him everything he wanted to know, but it was the _doing_ he wanted - _needed._ He needed to do something. The claustrophobic stillness was driving him mad.

He realised he was still sitting on the floor. That was fine, really. No other place to sit, actually, and if he got up he might be tempted to just go back to his own timeship.

Yes, he definitely had the urge to run, but he wasn't going to.

Probably not... maybe.

No. He wasn't.

He wasn't going to run.

That made him feel loads better.

He finally lifted his head and stared at the galley door, a soft smile stealing over his face.

Now he thought about it, those boys did look like him, didn't they? Their sister too, although, she looked very different in the metacrisis's memories. He'd need to ask about that.

Torin looked a lot like - well, facially and all - like his last regeneration, with hair like he'd had just before the war, and, in the memories he'd seen, he had ears like the body just after. Funny to think the metacrisis had retained all that genetic information in a way that it could be passed down to a child. Funny and scary. He'd just left all that in a place where he assumed he'd never know what happened, though, in fairness, he trusted both Rose and himself above anyone else in any universe.

Lios reminded him of himself when he had an affinity for wearing celery - but without the celery, of course. His face and body shape may have been more like he was just before and during the war, but his colouring was well suited for a red-trimmed cricket kit, and his eyes were like his had been when he still sported leather and Torin's over-large ears.

Alpha had looked just like Rose Tyler once - only taller, and with less of a point to her chin. Now she - well, now that he could place what had bothered him about her earlier - she looked like someone smashed together Rose Tyler with himself as Daft Ears, and she'd gotten his attitude to match. She made loads more sense when he thought of her that way. Dislike melted away instantly. Almost. Sort of. Not really, but she was broken, and needed fixing. He could understand that. Even forgive her chucking stones and insulting him at every opportunity.

He chuckled to himself. When looming children on Gallifrey, the parents got to choose the traits that they would share with the offspring to be created before the consciousness was inserted. Would he have picked any of what she was? He didn't know. Seeing the natural way made him think - Oh, Rassilon! These children were the first naturally born in…

_Oh, Rose Tyler, you impossible thing._ He laughed. Rose Tyler, Defender of Earth, Time Goddess and Saviour of the Time Lord Race. He was filled with good, happy, loving feelings and it had been a long time coming. How did she always do that?

He finally got to his feet and walked over to the time rotor, which was glowing feebly, and lightly rested a hand on it.

He was going to help Rose Tyler's children - maybe even look after them - whatever it took. He could do that.

Torin's head poked out the galley door, and he smiled at the Doctor before he made a strangled noise and was pulled back again, door slamming shut, followed by scuffling noises, and the reemergence of both brothers.

"Better now?" Torin chanced.

The Doctor nodded and met his gaze solidly.

He was given a manic grin in return. "Well, then! Tea! There you are. We found this tea growing - well the leaves, not the infusion we're about to drink - on a hillside on Epsilon V - of course, when I say Epsilon V, I mean in the parallel universe, so maybe we should call it Epsilon V.2, or is there not an Epsilon V here in Prime? Anyway, the locals claimed a monster was -"

"Oi! No one wants to hear _that_ story!" his brother huffed, turning a brilliant shade of red. It made him look like a lit match in his huge brown coat and pointy blond hair.

"Torin," the Doctor interposed gently, "I'd love to hear all your stories, eventually, but I do think it's time we chatted and you filled me in on the how of a few things."

Both young men looked startled at the revelation that the Doctor planned to be around long enough to hear all their stories, then melted into joyous grins.

"Your f-father died that day? The last one you showed me."

The older of the two nodded solemnly. "Yeah, not right then. Mum was able to help him hold on until we… came back. To say goodbye. He gave us those memories then. For you. You know, if we ever made it here."

"He wanted you to come here and find me?"

"Weeell," Torin tugged at an ear and tilted his head in an all to familiar way, "I think he figured you'd find us. He, you know, thought just like you and all, right? And he was right! Look at us all! You're here. You came looking. And we're here, drinking tea. Chatting."

"And how did you manage the crossing without tearing the fabric of reality?"

"Please. We had all the instructions from Dad and three of us plus Mum and a small ship. She's not a major space-time event yet. All we needed was enough power and a small crack," he replied with a smirk. "The Alpha piloted us through while we maintained the integrity of the walls. Mum..." the haughty smile slid off like mud, "Mum provided the power."

"What happened when you looked into the Untempered Schism? I've never seen anything like that before."

They were silent and tense.

Lios spoke first, "Better to wait on that answer until we're all together again, that okay?"

The Doctor nodded. "Where's your mum?" That was the question that burned.

They didn't answer immediately.

"Is she dead?" Cold knives pierced his hearts.

"Weeell, no. Not really," Torin blustered.

Utter relief swept all traces of the cold fear away.

"She doesn't exactly have a body anymore," he continued nervously, "but Selene thinks she knows how to fix that."

"Your sister's name is Selene then? She called herself 'Sally Woolfe,' but I heard you call her Alpha and assumed she was giving me a _nom de plume_."

"Weeell, no, and yes." Torin sipped his tea and relaxed. "Selene's what Mum and Dad named her - Sally Woolfe _is_ the alias she uses, or Woolfe was what Mum used and we adopted - but, technically she's Selene Noble-Smith, and I'm Torin Noble-Smith, and he's, well, you get it. Names are complicated. The Alpha started as a nickname when we were just sprogs, then that's what she chose for herself after we looked into the Schism. It's really her name as much as anything."

The Doctor shook his head. "Women didn't do that on Gallifrey, you know. That was something traditionally only done by men. Would have been highly improper and frowned upon, actually. Only renegade women like the Rani took titles, unless they were appointed one, or a Visionary. Would be like your sister to fly in the face of the customs of her people and go that route. Go on, what did you choose then?"

"We all kept our nicknames, but the Alpha's the only one that uses it when we're with family. I'm the Beta."

"I'm the Omega."

"I knew a man who called himself the Omega once. I like you far better, though. So, your mum. What happened?"

"She tapped too far into the Bad Wolf to get us across the void and it burned her body up. Don't look so horrified! We didn't know it would happen! Selene… Well, she took Mum into herself when we crashed and then stored her essence in this TARDIS." He pointed to the weakly glowing rotor. "That's her you're seeing. Our mum. She's what's keeping this baby alive."

The Doctor couldn't help feeling another stab in his hearts and he reached out and stroked the rotor once more.

"Why come back here? What was worth losing Rose?" He couldn't help the slight note of anger in his voice.

"Lots of reasons! Mum was never going to stay there forever because, well, you weren't there."

The Doctor couldn't suppress a grin.

"Don't look smug, that's just what I think, she never said! And the TARDIS never grew like she should there. Mum was constantly having to feed her from her own essence, and it always took her a while to recover after."

Torin jumped when the Doctor's head snapped in his direction with a stormy look.

"Calm down!" he cried defensively. "She said you'd done it before with your own TARDIS when you were in that universe."

"Yeah, but it cost me years of my own life! What was she _thinking_?"

"Oi! You don't get to have a go at my mum for doing what she felt she had to!"

The Doctor saw rage and defensive loyalty burning in Torin's eyes and knew he'd gone too far.

"You're right, I'm sorry. I wasn't having a go, it's just... upsetting."

"Yeah, alright."

"Go on then."

"Wasn't _just_ for the TARDIS. We needed to be here too. Living there made us sick all the time. Not like human-sick, but weak. Never felt as good in my life as I have since we crashed." He tugged uncomfortably at his locks and back pedalled. "I mean, apart from the stuff with Mum. And Selene... Physically, was what I was trying to say." He hesitated and nervously smoothed his hair over his ears. "Then there's, you know, the reasons we'll talk about later."

"Am I right in assuming your sister regenerated after saving Rose?"

They both nodded.

He shook his head and frowned. "She's been through quite a lot, hasn't she?"

Lios spoke up in his soft manner, "You really have no idea, so try to lighten up on her, yeah?"

The Doctor chuckled and ran a hand through his hair, resting it on the back of his neck as he looked at his shoes, "She reminds me of myself at a very dark time in my life. No one likes looking into that kind of mirror, Lios, but I promise you that I'll try harder."

The young man nodded, apparently satisfied.

"Speaking of your sister, she's been gone a long time, hasn't she?"

Torin smoothed his hair down over his ears again. "Nah. She's just brooding. She'll come back when she's ready and tell us what prats we are, then it'll all be fine. She just needs a bit to get it out of her system."

"Can I run some tests on you? I'd love to see your DNA - or is it TNA? How close to pure Time Lord are you?"

"Pretty close, and it's more like TNA with a time-murmur. That's what Dad used to say. Like a hearts-murmur only nothing like a hearts-murmur, forget that. It's almost a quadruplex polymer, but - er - not. We have a ghost strand that we got from Mum and it's not technically attached but floats about in the triple helix - well, you'll see it eventually."

"Fantastic!" the Doctor grinned. He swallowed and tried to sound as casual and not at all nervous about the next question. "Want to - er - go with me, maybe? You know, in my TARDIS?" Two sets of eyes locked on his face as he frowned and shifted from foot to foot. "I don't mean you'd have to leave this one or anything, quite the contrary, the invitation is for her as well - in fact, I think the old girl would be thrilled to help her along. She was very excited about you lot, even though I didn't... Your girl can be parked right inside. Simple enough. And of course, I mean your sister too. I know you wouldn't go anywhere without her. So, maybe… er… well?"

He never did get his answer, however, because right at that moment the Doctor heard an impossible sound - the wheezing of his TARDIS coming from all around.


	9. Hijacked

**A/N: Nope. Nada. Zilch. Zero. That's what I own. Certainly not Doctor Who nor any other intellectual property retained by the BBC and its affiliates. So don't sue me. I don't profit from this.**

**Jack Harkness is one of my all-time favourite characters. Just saying. I was never writing a DW story without him in it, even if it complicates matters and timelines for me to make it work properly. When I plotted him in, I knew he'd be important, I just didn't realise how very extremely important he'd end up. And neither will you yet. Mwhahaha. **

**Also, I wish I could write the TARDIS more often. She too is incredibly fun not only to write in humor, but as being who doesn't think in normal parameters. It's challenging and so satisfying. I think she sees the triplets in the same way that she sees their TARDIS and the Doctor. They're hers. More on why in the future. They may have their own wills, but she's really the one in charge and won't hesitate to use the squirt-gun on the misbehaving pet if they get out of line. She's never had much interest in interfering directly and it takes more energy than is practical in everyday scenarios, but she certainly has plans of her own and the bunch of Time Idiots aboard need massive amounts of directing if her goals are going to be accomplished. **

* * *

As she stepped into the console room her breath caught in her throat. It was enormous! Beautiful! Exquisite! Incredible! _Fantastic!_ _Oh!_ After growing up with stories, it was a fantasy come true, and such moments often defy description. She had never seen anything so wonderful in her life. It was so very different from her little TARDIS, with gleaming surfaces and a bluish glow radiating from the enormous time rotor casting a dream-like ambiance over the entire room. She was so sleek! So… Well, there weren't really enough words, were there?

"You're… You're just… You're amazin'. So beau'iful. Thank you for invitin' me to see you, er… What do I call you? D'you have a name?"

Waves of love and approval washed over Selene like a gigantic ethereal being was giving her a huge mental kiss. The TARDIS had decided once that she quite liked kissing - almost as much as biting, though she wanted the child to stay and her thief hadn't liked the biting in the way that she had - so she sent the pup lots of the more gentle type of affection. Not many who stepped foot inside her magnificent self bothered to ask if she had a name. It was novel and gratifying.

The Alpha hadn't stepped more than two feet in and the TARDIS was beckoning her to really come forward. A message in Gallifreyan appeared on the monitor at the console. Hesitantly, she closed the distance. It still felt wrong being here without the Doctor's permission. It wasn't as though staying on the ramp would make much difference, she'd already done the damage, but it caused her a little pang to know she could be making it worse somehow.

She read the name the TARDIS had offered.

_ No..._

_He didn't..._

_He named her-_

"I'm _never_ callin' you tha'."

Amusement from the TARDIS. Perhaps it was the reminder of how she liked kissing - and biting - that made her choose the second moniker she shared. Another name appeared.

"Alright, then Idris it is. My TARDIS isn't old enough to talk to me, you know. This is a bit weird. New. Different. Not bad different though. Good different." She reached up and rested her hands on the glowing cylinder. "I think you're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I hope he's taking good care of you."

More amusement.

The Alpha chuckled. "I know. 'S the other way 'round, innit? You take care of Himself."

Questioning. The TA- _Idris_ wanted to show her something.

"Yeah, 'course! Anythin' and everythin'! Please!"

She closed her eyes as the TARDIS's memories of the last few hundred years sped through her mind in reverse order, everything from having her matrix extracted, to blowing up, to crashing in a little girls' back garden, and ending with a struggle to keep a mad Time Lord from destroying the Earth by recalling…

_Oh._

"Tha's wha' killed him last time? 'S why he doesn't look the same anymore then." She sighed heavily. "You've been through a lot, haven't you, I-Idris?"

A slight admonishment made her feel like the ship had just done the mental version of a glower and tongue click.

"Yeah, yeah. He has too. I get it." She rolled her eyes, and got a shock for her insolence. "Oi! Watch it!" She stuck her fingers in her mouth and knitted her eyebrows together. "Look, sorry! I didn't mean to upset you, an' I wasn't tryin'a insult him, alright?" Her fingers tingled and the pain vanished. "Cheers! Much better. You really are incredible, y'know. I can't wait 'til my Little Girl is as flash as you, you incredible thing, you."

Pride and affection came in a giant wave, though the Alpha couldn't tell whether it was directed at her or the idea of her young ship.

"So'd you invite me in jus' to say, 'hello,' then?"

The image of the pompous looking man with the dangerous gauntlet from the last memory appeared in her mind.

"Who's tha' then?"

A name appeared on the monitor in Circular Gallifreyan. _Rassilon_.

"Tha's Himself? He's the one I want? Never had a proper name for 'im." She rubbed at her temples and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Looks like a right prat, doesn't he?"

The TARDIS give her the mental equivalent of a shrug, then a stern warning, as if to say he was nothing to a being like herself but potentially very problematic for Selene.

"Is he really tha' dangerous?" She nervously adjusted the neck of her jumper and muffler to sit higher and pulled down at her coat sleeves.

Agreement and a feeling of concern and sadness.

"I'll be alright, Idris. Really. I'm cleverer an' stronger than I look. An' 's wha' I was born for, yeah?"

Questioning.

"Wha'? I dunno wha' you're tryin' to ask."

Insistent questioning.

"Look, can you write it out or show me or somethin'?" she asked and tugged at her muffler. "Blimey, I'm talkin' to a ship tha' knows all my plans! This is by far the strangest conversation I've ever been a part of, an' you know… tha's sayin' a lot."

The image of the pompous looking Time Lord and the questioning tone again.

"Oh. Yeah, I dunno yet. Was kinda hopin' Mum would be here with us for everythin', but I still have to sort all tha' out." A thought occurred to her. "D'you… I mean… I know you can do amazin' things… D'you think you could help me sort Mum?"

Wolves howled in her mind and she felt a sense of giddy anticipation from the unusually chatty timeship.

To her utter amazement and horror the ship initiated her own dematerialisation sequence.

"Oi! What're you doin'?!" she shouted in panic. She definitely didn't want to nick the Doctor's TARDIS, and she highly doubted he'd appreciate it either. "The Doctor's gonna kill me! We can't go anywhere! Are you listening?! Wha'- _Oi!"_

Her own TARDIS was suddenly sitting in the corner of the console room - still a violet-leafed Garazonian tree - and the door was opening. To her horror, a furious Doctor was running out and looking daggers right at her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he shouted. "What is _wrong_ with you?! Do you make a habit of hijacking other people's ships?"

"Wha? No! I was-"

"How the hell did you even get in? _What is_ _wrong with you?_"

Her brothers were peering out her TARDIS doors with shocked and confused expressions. Lios also looked a bit disappointed in her. That flared the anger within her, every apology she was on the verge of offering burning away in her internal fire. She hadn't _done_ anything!

...Except invade his home uninvited... But the TARDIS had invited her, damn it, and that was all the justification she felt she needed.

She strode right up to the Doctor and stood inches from him as he glowered at her. "_I._ Didn't. _Hijack._ Anythin'! _She_ did this all on her own, an' if you don' believe me, try askin' her your own-self! I didn't wanna look at your daft, insultin', too-important face ever again, why would I go pickin' you up while you were in _my_ TARDIS? _She's_ the mad one tha' did it!"

She pointed at the console then put her finger in the Doctors face, eyes blazing with righteous fury, and the decision made to leave the insane ship and the mad Doctor behind forever, damn what her brothers wanted. It was too much. _He_ was too much.

"You can jus' put us right back _right now! Go on!_ We don't need _you_, _or_ your bloody mad ship! We were better off before you swanned in an' cocked up our - _everythin'_!"

"Don't you have a go at my ship! Without her you wouldn't even be alive, you ungrateful little-"

Both of them received painful shocks from the railing they each clutched with white knuckles.

"Oi!" - "Bugger! Ow!"

Waves of stern chastisement rolled over both of them like slaps to the back of the head.

"Mad! Absolutely _barmy!_ Tha's the _second_ time! Does she do tha' a lot? Bloody hell, it hurts!"

The dematerialisation sequence began again and the Doctor hurriedly pushed past the Alpha and ran to the console.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?" he yelled at his ship.

Something strange had gotten into the TARDIS and he'd be buggered to know why her behaviour was so extreme. She had some unfathomable goal and was breaking rules to accomplish them. Not that breaking rules was new; they'd forged their very bond on the principle. The least she could do was keep him in the loop, however, and he was perturbed by her failure to do so.

A few moments later they landed and he checked their coordinates. "_Cardiff?_ Of all the places - all the bloody rifts in time and space - why is it _always_ \- Oh, forget it! I'll never properly understand you," he admonished his rogue timeship.

He turned to the three young Time Lords that were now standing together. Lios was gingerly examining his sister's fingers and Torin was gaping at the room at large, trying to memorise every detail. He looked like he was twitching to explore. That expression made the Doctor's grin reappear and his anger took a backseat to the pride and joy at hand. He did quite like Torin and Lios, even if the girl was impossible - and not the good, impossible - to get on with.

"Welcome to the TARDIS, well, this TARDIS, my TARDIS. What do you think?"

Torin met his eyes. "Brilliant." He nodded with genuine wonderment. "You know she is."

"Well, she's taken us to Cardiff - I'm assuming for your little one's benefit. There's a rift here where she can recharge, so to speak, and help her heal. Alpha, I'm sorry I shouted at you. My Old Girl has obviously been planning things without telling me anything."

She regarded him with brow-crumpled puzzlement at his apology. She tugged at her coat sleeves and glanced away awkwardly. "You called me Alpha."

"Well, that's your name, isn't it? Would you prefer Selene?"

She shook her head, her expression indefinable.

"Come along Noble-Smiths - blimey, that's rubbish. No offence meant to your old dad, but why didn't he just use Tyler? Brilliant name, Tyler. Noble-Smith doesn't roll off the tongue properly at all. I'm not calling you lot that again. Tylers then. Much better. Come along, Tylers! Shall I show you to your rooms then?"

"Oi!" The Alpha grabbed hold of Li's arm and stopped the migration out of the console room in its tracks. "Who says we're stayin' here?"

Her brothers looked at her in shock and disappointment. Torin also had a rebellious glint that said he wouldn't be giving in without an herculean fight.

The Doctor's smile died on his lips and he frowned anxiously. "I just thought…"

A few heavy moments passed where no one moved, brothers still staring at their sister in disbelief and anger, and the Doctor with his eyes fixed on his shoe laces.

"Look, I'm not sayin' we don't appreciate the offer," she began with clear prejudice, and Torin turned away from her in frustration, "an' I'm _not_ sayin' we won't go with you - you two prats jus' settle down - it's jus', we have a home, yeah?" she indicated the young ship still pretending she was a purple tree, "an' givin' us rooms here… I dunno… 'S jus' weird. 'S like this is your house an' you're askin' us to move in to your house when we barely know you. 'S a little... fast 's all... don't you think? This somethin' you do a lot? Jus' move people in?"

"Actually, I've never thought about it that way," his brows were still pinched together, but he had relaxed considerably.

They weren't leaving him. That was good. Very good; great, even. He wasn't ready to say goodbye yet; so much was still a mystery, so much was left to do.

"Of course, you can stay wherever you're most comfortable, even if it isn't technically on my ship." Trying to keep his voice light and casual was a strain. "You're welcome here is what I'm trying to say. I want you here. I would really, very much like you to be. Here. Please."

She nodded, face still serious, but neither cross nor defensive.

"Well, I want to stay on _this_ TARDIS," Torin proclaimed loudly, defiance lining every angle of his person.

His sister glared.

"Alpha, I know what you're gonna say, and it's crap," he reasoned. "Our girl is better off not having to maintain the support systems for the three of us all the time. She'll heal quicker and grow faster. You know it's true. Stop being such a contrarian!" He spun in a circle with his arms wide, revelling in the magnificence of the ancient ship which had once come from the planet of his forgotten people. "Look where we _are!_ It's brilliant!" He squared his shoulders and met her scowl with a hardened face. "You're not stopping me. You do what you want." He turned his back on her pointedly and gave the eldest Time Lord a hopeful look. "Doctor, please give me a room? Blimey! Never had a room of my own!"

Selene couldn't hide the hearts-break in her eyes. She looked at her youngest brother and pleaded silently. He couldn't leave her too. Not him.

He met her gaze with patience and understanding, then pulled her into an embrace.

Relief flooded her.

"This'll be good for us, Selene," he whispered to her before returning his focus to the Doctor.

She tried to shove him away roughly, but he held on until she sighed in frustration and let him comfort her.

"Doctor, we've never been apart," he admitted softly.

"Well," the Doctor frowned, "I'm sure the Old Girl can make it so your rooms connect if it helps, or you can all have one room. It's up to you."

Lios nodded. He glanced at his brother. "Connected is good."

After settling in (the Alpha only taking a cursory look at their new quarters and disappearing into her own timeship while the men explored) they met once again in the console room.

"So, Cardiff," started Torin in a pleased tone. "A rift and loads of Welshmen. A bay; Roald Dahl Plass. Anything else interesting? How long will we be here do you reckon?"

The Doctor frowned. "A day or so should be all we need. And no, not really, it's Wales, isn't it? There is a branch of Torchwood," the three stiffened slightly, "and an anomaly with an American accent who is probably pacing outside those doors, but that's about it."

"Anomaly? Like a time anomaly? Do you mean Jack Harkness? Really?" Torin beamed.

"If he's still here on Earth, yes," the Doctor replied with faint disdain. "Haven't seen him in, oh, couple hundred years, but this should still be around the time he spent in Wales. I take it you've heard of him."

"Well, yeah! He was one of Mum's best mates! Grew up on stories about the three of you, didn't we?"

"You won't like the way he feels."

"Been told. Still amazing when things that felt like fairy stories show up in real life, though."

"Well, then. What are we waiting for, Tylers? Geronimo!"

"Geronimo?" It was the first the Alpha had spoken in hours. She rolled her eyes. "Barmy old git..."

The Doctor opened the double doors with a grin and strode out into the night air only to be tackled to the concrete in a hug by an immortal in a vintage military greatcoat.

"Doc!" Jack cried "Oh! Hello, handsome. Captain Jack Harkness. Thought you were someone else. You're travelling with the Doctor, I take it?" he asked in his most charming voice and didn't move from his position atop the Doctor.

"Gerroff, Jack! I'm the Doctor! New face. Same man."

"Blowing through those regenerations pretty fast, Doc. Last time I saw you, you had a new face too. But this one is so young! You gotta be moisturising." He pinched the Doctor's cheeks and moved back onto his knees, allowing the Doctor to sit up.

"Wait, when did you last see me?"

"The year that never was."

"Oh, dear. Right. Well, this is very not good. You'll see that me again, Jack, only don't say anything about this me, that's very extremely important."

"Yeah, Doc. I get it. Time Agent, remember? I know how to be... discrete." He waggled his eyebrows suggestively, then looked up to see the three amused faces watching the exchange with varying degrees of amusement and disbelief. "Hey there. Captain Jack Harkness. New companions?"

"Stop it." The Doctor ordered and pushed him over as he got to his feet.

The Captain rolled onto his side gracefully and rested his head on one hand as he looked at the triplets. "And you are?"

"I said stop it, Jack."

"What? I'm just being friendly."

"You're not getting 'friendly' with this lot. _ Ever._ Understand?"

"I think I liked your last face better. You were more fun."

"Oi!"

"So, you three have names? He's obviously not making the introductions."


	10. You Call Her Sexy

**A/N: I don't own Doctor Who. Nope.**

**I struggled with this chapter but emerged the victor and now I can get into the meat and forward the momentum. Hallelujah.**

* * *

"Stop pouting, Doc. I doubt you'd ever find fish fingers in a restaurant anywhere except maybe a Denny's in the States. Can't say I'm sorry for it either. I really didn't want to watch you eat that. It kills the - oh, no, wait, no it doesn't. Eat whatever you like, Doc." Jack grinned lasciviously, leaning back against the red vinyl cushion of the booth and leering at the new, younger face of the man he knew.

"Shut up, it's nice," he said with a mouth full of the banana parfait he'd settled for, choosing to ignore the innuendo.

"So, kids, what's the story? What Earth-destroying threat are we facing, or was this a social call?"

The Doctor winced. Jack would see his share of threats to the planet soon enough. "I didn't land us here. The TARDIS did."

"Still didn't get a body that can drive, huh?"

Everyone but the Doctor laughed loudly, causing looks of shock and annoyance to drift their way from the neighbouring patrons.

"Oi!" the Doctor protested hotly. "We're just refuelling. I picked this lot up not long ago on Garazone Prime."

"Oh! Beautiful planet! Shades of orange and purple everywhere you look. Back when I was with the Time Agency, I had a thing with a lovely female Garan once who used to like it whe-"

The Doctor choked on his parfait and began coughing loudly, drowning out the rest of Jack's words.

"Haven't ever been able to look at carrots the same way since," he finished grinning. "Still, Alpha, Beta, and Omega? Don't Garazonian humans typically name their children more, and no offence intended, traditionally?"

"Weeell, we aren't human, are we?" Torin said through the mouthful of his chips. "We're Time Lords."

The Alpha glared at him and the Omega pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh. Torin's gob was unrivalled.

"You're _what_?" Jack spluttered into his whiskey.

"Time Lords," Torin grinned while still chewing. The Alpha elbowed him in the ribs but he wilfully ignored her.

"I thought you were the last, Doc. You know, ever since Lucy Saxon shot... the Master."

_"Was_ the last. Not anymore. Chuck us a chip, Beta." Torin shifted his plate into the Doctor's reach. The Doctor grabbed a handful and started dipping them in his bananas and continued nonchalantly, "This lot crashed there. I felt them and picked them up."

"You felt them. Alright. How come you never noticed them before?"

"We were trapped in a parallel dimension, it happens," the Alpha replied firmly, leaving it at that and hoping Torin would better control his tendency toward verbal diarrhoea.

She'd picked up that this was still early enough in Jack's history with the Doctor that too much information could seriously damage future events - events which meant the difference between existing and not existing. She was a bit frustrated they were even mucking about like this, actually. What was the Doctor playing at? What was his ruddy ship playing at? Impromptu anything was her abhorrence, and this was, well, this was just idiocy she couldn't abide.

Jack Harkness was interesting though. She'd never seen time behave so strangely. She couldn't see his time lines at all, which was odd, but not shocking since he was a fixed point and she didn't know of any other living fixed points with whom she could compare her time sensitivity... But the way time moved around him was... wrong. It interacted with but never touched him. It was like watching magnets repel each other. Weird, and if she watched too long it'd give her a headache, but almost entrancing nonetheless.

"Incredible! How'd you get here?" Jack looked hopeful. "Doc, do you think however they did it, we might be able to try it and go get Rosie?"

The Doctor shook his head sadly. "Spoilers, Jack. And it was an accident. Sometimes the walls of the universe have cracks and things just pop through," he replied evasively. Jack would have his opportunity to reunite with Rose, and it was hard not grudging him for it. The complicated nature of the mixed-up time lines made it impossible to share in any case.

Jack looked nonplussed. Despite his disappointment, he understood. Things came through the rift all the time without rhyme or reason, it wasn't a far stretch to imagine the same being true of cracks and parallels. He sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Well, that's a downer. Would've been great to finally see her again. So you all are just going to stay to fuel and then be on your way? No chance I can tempt you to stay a while?"

"Not likely. We need to repair their TARDIS and we won't find what we need here on Earth."

"You might be surprised with some of what we've had come through the rift over the years. Most of it is beyond our best and brightest."

Four identical smirks surrounded him.

"Oh, not fair. That's... wrong. Spare me the species insults in surround sound, please. Pompous asses. All of you."

Four smirks turned into four shit-eating grins.

The Doctor shook his head and ran a hand through his floppy mop of hair. "I know what's in your archives, Jack," he informed the ex-time agent confidently. "We won't find what we need here."

The captain nodded. He didn't put it past the Doctor to keep tabs on what they got up to at any given point, and he could hardly blame him given the history he'd shared with the secret organisation. "Any chance you'd want to take an old man along for a couple of trips?"

"Jack…"

"It's alright, Doc, I know. The TARDIS doesn't like me. I'm wrong. I remember."

"I thought you were set on working with your team here. That's what you said after I offered last time."

Jack tried to give a genuine smile. He did have his team and plenty to keep him busy. He wouldn't grudge the Doctor his refusal. "I did. And have. And am. I'm just a little restless at the moment, I guess. Things are..." He ran his fingers through his hair. "And you've got a time machine. You could have me back tomorrow and none would be the wiser!"

Selene and Lios had stopped eating and were staring at each other intently. Both wore serious expressions tinted with frustration. The Alpha's eyes flickered downward for a moment, and she took on a resigned look. The Omega nodded and smiled, then they both turned to Torin, who stopped mid bite.

"What was that?" Jack asked, thoroughly confused by the exchange.

"Time Lords are telepathic, Jack," the older Time Lord answered, looking worn out and ancient. "Bloody kids..." he muttered. "Oi! It's rude to have private conversations in the middle of company!"

Jack knew there was so much more to this story than he was getting, but left it alone. No one would tell him any more than they would tell him. He might be able to wheedle, cajole, and coerce information from most people he met, but he knew better than to try with the Doctor. He wondered if all the Doc's people were like that, or if this group was just especially secretive.

"Yeah, sorry," the Alpha replied without sounding the least bit apologetic. "Still not used to the... comp'ny thing. So, Doctor… we, er… well, maybe the Captain could come? See, er… There's this thing we're supposed to do an' er… well, Li thinks he could help."

She damned her youngest brother for making the request. She cursed that it was always down to her to see it done. It was awkward enough feeling beholden to the Doctor for help, their living quarters, and hospitality, asking him for a favour was torture. She damned him further for having sound logic to back himself up. Logic she couldn't just share easily anyway.

"A thing of which I'm not aware," the Doctor stated rather than asked.

His tone was light, but, though he spoke casually, she knew they'd row again if she wasn't careful.

"Yet," she confirmed with a nod and what he could interpret as a promise should he so choose. "We sort of landed in Cardiff before we got a proper chance to talk. You an' me. Yeah?"

Lios looked more pleased with his sister than the Doctor had seen him. He also picked up on… what was it… relief?

It was a bad, terrible, very not good idea. Jack hadn't been through the trauma of the The Crucible yet, hadn't experienced Rose crossing the void with the dimension cannon, nor did he know about the metacrisis who would go on to father the very beings asking this very bad, not good thing of him. He should refuse. Definitely.

After he still hadn't spoken for what felt like ages, she huffed and shrugged. "Look, it's not tha' big a deal. It's your ship. 'S not like-"

"I haven't said no."

He searched her face. Her inky brows were drawn and she didn't smile, but she met his eyes with earnestness shining in them. And, blast it all, they were Rose Tyler's eyes, weren't they? Pleading with him in the way that _she_ had once when she'd wanted to go back and see her father, just once. Not that _that_ had turned out well, but how was he ever going to say no?

"Well, Jack, I think your room was deleted when I had a run in with a nasty sentient asteroid, but I'm sure we can find you one that will do." He sighed. If things went pear-shaped, he'd have to lock Jack's memories away, which he supposed wasn't the end of the world.

Jack jumped out of his seat and kissed him right on the lips. The Doctor flailed and regretted his choice instantly. Kissing was more awkward in this body than it had been in the last.

"Right. Cheers." He wiped his mouth on his coat sleeve and grimaced.

When they arrived back at the TARDIS, the young men went exploring and Jack went to the Hub to pack a bag, and the older Time Lord took the opportunity to confront the Alpha.

"Talk then," he demanded. "You and me. Now."

Selene froze in the doorway of her young ship. Clearly, she'd been trying to escape doing that very thing. She shifted from foot to foot for a moment then tugged at her coat sleeves and fussed with her red muffler. She debated ignoring him, walking a few more steps, and just shutting the doors.

"If you don't start spilling immediately, I'll ground us here in Cardiff."

"Bollocks. You'd never." She turned around with a cheeky grin to look him in the eyes and nearly stumbled back. Her smiled vanished.

"Try me."

She shot him a scowl which still paled in comparison to the dark look he wore, then returned her gaze to the floor. "Can't it wait? One night?"

"No."

"Look, it's not tha' I'm tryin' to do anythin' dodgy. I jus' dunno where to start."

"The beginning is often the best place."

"Fine, yeah. Mum - er… Well, Mum's… The Captain's got a time thing happenin' an' might be able to help us bring back Mum… an' we _need_ Mum." She looked at him a bit defiantly, as if daring him to challenge her assertion.

He didn't, only raised his brows expectantly. "That's all?"

"Erm... Well... He's funny?"

"Selene, don't play games with me. I don't respond well to being used."

"Oi! When did I say you could call me Selene, eh? An' used? Tha's a bit of unfair, innit? I'm not the one who insisted we stay, was I? I never asked a damned thing from you, _Doctor_! Tha' was all you! I never asked to be here! Your ship opened her doors an' lured me in like a pedo with a sweet an' kidnapped me - OW! _Mental_ piece of space junk! _Stop shockin' me!_" She kicked at the railing.

"That was completely out of order! Show her some respect and she won't!"

"Oh, you're one to talk! How often do you swear at her or hit her with a mallet then, eh?"

"She's _my_ ship!"

"An' you blew her up!"

"Only a bit!"

"It imploded the bloody universe!"

"I got it restarted!"

"By relyin' on some human's locked up memory of an erased timeline! How's tha' responsible?"

"Who cares? It worked!"

"You let a madman steal her and turn her into a livin' paradox feed!"

"Oi! Exactly how much did she tell you?!"

"You nearly got her killed chasing phantom Time Lords!"

"I got her back! _And_ she bit me!"

"You flew her like a _cruiser_ down a motorway! _In traffic!"_

"To save a woman's life! It didn't hurt her! Much."

"Oh, _much._ Tha' makes it better, don't it, you bloody-minded prat! The ends _always_ justify the means _don't_ they? You-"

Electricity hummed near her and she swallowed her last insult. She paused a moment and caught her breath.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear you. Could you repeat it?"

She rolled her eyes and glared, knowing full well he'd never have missed it. "I said, you drive with the parkin' brakes on."

"And it makes a gorgeous noise. Love the noise. Live for it even."

"You call her _Sexy_."

"Isn't she, though?"

"Yeah, but_ Sexy?"_ She scrubbed a hand down her face._ "Really?_ She's a being older'n both of us put together twice, an' you name her _S__exy?_ At least she's lettin' me call her Idris."

_"Idris?"_

"Yeah, 's wha' she told me."

"Idris was the name of the woman whose body she was forced into when her matrix was... removed."

"Oh. Tad morbid."

"A bit."

"I'll stick with Old Girl then, shall I?"

"Are we ever going to be able to talk without fighting?"

"Dunno. You make me really, really angry."

"Likewise, but you do need to be honest with me, Alpha. I want to help and I can't if I don't know what's going on inside that impossible head of yours."

"Impossible doesn't exist in my family. We eat it for elevenses," she whispered sadly looking at her feet.

"What is that? Your brothers said something like it earlier."

A bitter smile ghosted across her face. "'S wha' Mum an' Dad always said to each other. Became sort of the family motto, I guess."

"You know that I'm not trying to replace your dad, right?"

Her face snapped up to his, eyes wide and brows knitted.

"Easy! I don't want another row! I'm honestly just trying to help you." He sat with a grunt on the edge of the dais, arms over the rails, legs dangling over the side, and patted the floor next to him.

She hesitated a moment before joining him.

"Terribly depressing subject, but did your father ever tell you what it was like to be alone in the universe? Did he tell you about the emptiness? The headaches, the pain? The madness that always feels like it's just about to swallow you whole because you're so alone in the vastness of your own- right..." He heaved a sigh. "You have never had to feel that. You've always had your brothers. From your earliest conscious moments, you have had each other and I hope with every fibre of my being that never changes. It is one of the worst things I've ever experienced, and I've experienced a lot of very not nice things. You still haven't made a connection with me. You're still blocking, but your brothers aren't."

She scowled.

"Don't get upset! I'm not eavesdropping on them! Just listen! Having even one other Time Lord in here," he touched the side of his head with his forefinger, "has soothed me in a way I can never describe to you. I'm just glad you exist, and if there is any way for me to help you continue existing, I want to do it. Completely selfish, actually. I'm keeping you around to soothe my tired old self."

He nudged her with his shoulder.

"You're not very good for that though, are you? Absolute nightmare, you are."

She gave a small, genuine laugh. "Tha's 'cos you're a rude old codger with a daft face." She nudged him back. "You're right, though. I have been a bit of a cow. I'm jus'… angry… 'bout a lot. An' - oh, if you ever breathe a word of this to my brothers, I will slap you into the next you - I'm scared, alright? Those two jammy gits always look to me to know wha' to do, an' where to go, an' how to fix all the things that've gone wrong, an' for once, I properly, properly don't know. 'S a million possibilities clamourin' for my attention every second of my life, an' _I_ have to be the one tha' chooses which one is right. 'S ruddy terrifying."

"Anyone ever tell you that you sound like a madman with a box I once knew?"

"Shut up..."

"So, how can I help you, Alpha Tyler?"

She winced. "Don't use tha' one again. Tha' was rubbish."

"Yeah, it was."

"Gotta get my ship in order. We can start there, yeah? You know where to go better than we do. Only, maybe you shouldn't try to help with the actual fixing."

"Oi!"

She stood and walked to her TARDIS but turned before entering. "Doctor? Thanks." She turned red to her hairline then disappeared.

It was good, a very nice feeling indeed to see a bit of her which wasn't hardened and bitter, and it wasn't until much later that he realised she hadn't actually answered any of his questions.

Rassilon! She was good.


	11. Symbols and Secrets

**A/N: I don't own Doctor Who.  
**

**Rather than blathering on about my reasoning behind each character's thoughts and actions, I'm just going to quote Amy: Okay, kid, this is where it gets complicated.**

**Adventure time! Woot!**

* * *

The three male Time Lords were hefting their purchases back to the TARDIS after a rather fun, yes, very nice day of scavenging. It had been a long time since he'd had - if he'd ever had - competent company on these expeditions, and it was amazing! He didn't quite know what to make of it. They knew what he was looking at without needing an explanation, spotted things he'd missed, and were genuinely glad to be in his company. The feeling was mutual. He revelled in their awe and got to teach on a level that he hadn't had since Susan or Romana travelled with him.

Selene, however, hadn't made an appearance in nearly three days. She'd been hiding in her own ship since the last conversation - or, well, row - she and the Doctor had had. He was getting fed up with her avoidance, but had no way to get to her. The young TARDIS remained resolutely locked, and he didn't have a key, did he?

The young men blushed in embarrassment, but adamantly refused to go against their sister's wishes and let him in until she was ready. No amount of hinting, cajoling, anger, or guilt-tripping could sway them. Torin finally admitted their sister had threatened to mentally shut them out if they disobeyed, and that was worse than any bollocking he could give. After that admission, instead of alienating the two he had on his side, the Doctor decided to make the effort to befriend the two boys and wait out the frigidity of the third in their trio.

He was contemplating cutting off her supply line. She would have to emerge if she no longer had the steady stream of parts and sustenance - he was providing no less - and the boys were no longer allowed to act as her blockade runners. He wouldn't continue to be buggered for long.

They had, however, let Jack come and go as he pleased, and he was currently holed up in there with her doing Omega knew what. He hoped - fervently prayed to any and every imaginary deity he'd come across in his travels - she wasn't doing or saying anything stupid that would damage timelines.

Lios assured him she was never careless, but the idea that secrets were being kept from him - aboard his own damned ship no less - burned him up inside. He'd given her the opportunity to talk and she'd evaded and played her games with him once again.

But bloody Harkness? No issues there! A few days and some innuendo and he was in like Flynn.

Galling. Utterly rude and offensive.

Who had taken them in and offered not only the universe but unconditional assistance? Who had shared personal - usually closely guarded - feelings of a painful nature in order to relate to her mysterious plight? Who had made it possible for these little meetings with the Torchwood director at all? Not the one in the little ship keeping things on the low down- or down low- underground? Or was it the flip side? Didn't matter. It wasn't Jack.

When he cornered Jack, the former Time Agent had grown quite serious and stated that he needed to back off. "It's not the right time, Doc. You of all people should understand these things," he'd told him.

"Frankly, Jack, I'm surprised at where your loyalties lie," the Doctor had spat, earning him a wounded look and guilt.

Jack had gone to her then and had stayed since. The Doctor didn't know whether to just enjoy the relief of not having the Captain's wrongness bothering him, or berate himself for hurting his friend. He didn't have many of them left after all.

Still, despite his many irritations and frustrations of late, he'd enjoyed this day. The company was brilliant - quite literally - and delighted in their task, asking their questions and getting some answers - no, that was The Little Mermaid. But they did - ask that is, and get answers, so it worked... He was glad he hadn't said that aloud.

They still needed a Furidurb Graviometric Bypass, like the one he had fought over with the Alpha, and a few more rare bobs, but with this haul, they were near sorted. It would then only be a matter of time before their ship came fully back online. He hoped they would want to stay a while afterward. It would be a shame if they left after so short a time, and the thought made his hearts clench with loss and premature grief. He'd have to insist on regular visits with the boys if he couldn't get the Alpha to agree to say on.

"Tea?" Lios asked as they reentered the Doctor's TARDIS. The young man still wasn't chatty, but he was much warmer than the Doctor had given him credit for originally.

Torin stayed with him in the console room while Lios left for the galley.

With a furtive glance in the direction of his retreating sibling, and another at the ship pretending to be a tree, he sidled in next to the Doctor at the console.

"Think… er… maybe we could… go on a trip that wasn't…you know, strictly business?" he posed as casually as his anxiousness would allow. "Just for laughs? Not that today wasn't enjoyable! It was! I had loads of fun, and you're brilliant, and we can't thank you enough! I just…" He scraped the toe of his boot back and forth lightly on the floor and swallowed.

The Doctor hardly needed to him to finish but wanted to let him vent all the same.

"I'm a bit sick of markets, to be honest," Torin continued guiltily. "Been looking at them for the last six months and one day and I want to look at something else, even if it's a planet made entirely of Marmite. I feel like I'm going a bit batty with all the seriousness and tension all the time."

A slow, knowing smile spread over the Doctor's face as he let the silence pleasantly increase the anticipation. "Torin Tyler! Not only do you have a fantastic name that rolls right off the tongue, but you are brilliant!" And he was. The Doctor could never object to a bit of fun. "Do you have a destination in mind, or shall I set the randomiser?"

"Randomiser." The young man's grin was practically loony and he was positively vibrating where he stood with excitement. "Definitely."

"Want to set it yourself?"

The smile slid off his face and his eyes went round as saucers. "You're having a laugh."

"Nah, go on." The older man motioned toward the controls. "It's not everyday I offer to let anyone else pilot my Sexy."

Torin cackled like a loon, flew on winged feet to the console, and threw a few levers while running around like a madman. The TARDIS was off, but not before hurling them both to the ground resulting in bruises and gales of laughter. They landed moments later with much wheeze and thud, and the young man shot up and was at the doors in half a second.

"Oi! Forgetting someone?" The Doctor laughed. "Off you trot. There are three others here who might enjoy a bit of something different too. Go and round them up while I check on where and when we are."

"Weeell," he hesitated and smoothed his hair on the sides, all traces of excitement gone and awkwardness left in its wake, "actually, I was hoping we could just… maybe… leave the Alpha out of it."

The Doctor couldn't stifle the snort which arose.

"I'm a terrible brother," he blustered, not meeting the Doctor's eye, "I know, but she'll only call me a prat and tell me to stop mucking about. And I might get something chucked at me. She never misses either. And she won't leave anyway." Torin felt disloyal, but sometimes Selene was entirely too much negativity for him and his breezy nature, and more especially in this new regeneration of hers.

"And your brother?"

"Oh, forget it. _He'll_ go and tell her for sure. He's always a git like that."

"I'm always a git like what?" Lios asked from the corridor holding three mugs of tea, frowning at the conspirators.

"Did I say git? I meant - oh, no, I meant git. You're a git."

"What are you on about?"

"You tattle everything to Alpha. You're. A. Gi-t."

His brother's blond brows contracted and his eyes looked more worried than suspicious. "What've you done then?"

"We've landed somewhere, well, not strictly on the itinerary. For fun," the Doctor interceded. "It's good to have fun. You lot should do more often. Far too serious, all of you. I'm convinced we don't share TNA. And, oh, I've just remembered this is a _time machine,_ so we can have a bit and still do whatever it is that your sister is keeping from me without losing a second, technically speaking." He clapped his hands together and pointed them both at the exit. "Right. Come along then, Tylers. Mystery place outside! Open the doors Torin!"

Before Lios could interject another word, Torin and the Doctor were outside and he was left holding the tea, stunned and gaping. He hesitated, thinking he should at least let the Alpha know they were going out, but decided he was better off keeping those two in line as well as he could. Who knew what they'd get up to, she'd only shout about wasting time, and they already had the jump on him.

He quickly set the cups of tea on the console and hurried after the others.

* * *

.

* * *

Inside the baby timeship - which was still pretending to be a tree as she didn't have enough power reserves to yet re-disguise herself - a young woman was going over a long agonised-over plan she had finally solidified with the help of an immortal. An immortal who just so happened to be a fixed point in time which, though uncomfortable and strange, had been the boon she'd never expected in all her calculating, and, even better, had proven himself to be every bit the man her mum had claimed. It was a blessed relief too, having someone older and far wiser in whom to confide.

When he'd first come aboard, she didn't know how to approach him about... their request. It wasn't every day you asked a man to die to further your cause, even if said death wouldn't stick.

He'd been confused, but then the torrent of babble she'd usually associate with her brother hit, and she couldn't stem the tide until Captain Jack was staring at her, gobsmacked and baffled, with his mouth hanging open.

She'd unburdened completely and it was a long overdue comfort in and of itself to have the luxury. Best of all, he didn't judge. He'd agreed to help readily, and Selene found herself trusting him far more quickly than anyone who wasn't family.

The truth was, she needed him desperately. He had no claim on her except the ties of an old friendship with her parents, and he didn't need her protection. He could be a sounding board, and he was far cleverer than the average human. He was peace in her constant chaos, and she found herself lamenting his absence whenever he went into the larger timeship.

She figured the Doctor would be cross with her, but after regaling Jack, she just wasn't up to a repeat performance, and she still didn't fully trust the old man. He could be mercurial at the best of times, she was fully aware, and if he decided to kick them all out, they were completely buggered. Jack was an acceptable risk. The Doctor was not. Jack readily agreed to memory modification - and could be coerced if it came to it. The Doctor could not. Jack had a life to return and resume after. The Doctor... did not. It was his life.

As little as he would like it, he was out and staying out.

At least, that was what she told herself every time Lios nagged at her to keep her word to him and fill the old man in.

"Selene, sweetheart, you're gonna give yourself a nosebleed. If I've learned anything in my years, it's that plans can only take you so far. Too many unexpected variables inevitably come up, and you always end up flying by the seat of your pants in the end," Jack told her sagely as he reclined against her console. "Just look at the Doc. It's practically his life's story."

She snorted and dropped wires she'd been twisting. "Yeah, well tha's the point, innit? Don't want it to be like tha'. Too much at stake."

He sighed. He wasn't going to get through to her on this. She just hadn't lived and seen enough to understand. Yet. And he was going to make damn sure Rosie's daughter could do just that. Live. She was... special, or different... or something. He couldn't put a finger on what is was about her, but every time she laughed or smiled, the room got a little brighter. It was a bit like being with Rose and the Doc all those years before. She was certain he was a good man, even if he didn't believe it himself, and it made him want to live up to it.

"Let me see the markings again."

She gave a stiff nod and shrugged off her coat. She was wearing only a vest top underneath rather than her accustomed oversize jumper - a luxury she only afforded herself when she was alone or in the very short list of company she trusted implicitly - and the swirling, golden symbols were clearly visible trailing from her wrists to her neck. She'd let him look at nearly all of them, but only grudgingly as they covered her, toes to neck, and she'd spent most of her life hiding them. He couldn't read them, but had made a detailed map of them all on paper so they could be properly examined and re-translated - again.

She had done the same with her brothers and Mum many times, but it never hurt to have another opinion when it came to cryptic prophesies. Cryptic meaning practically inexplicable, and inexplicable meaning practically nonsense. Even when she thought she had a grasp on what they said, it all made little sense in any applicable way. She and her brothers had all come to different conclusions many times over, and had she not the insight... ish... from looking into the schism, she might be tempted to write them all off as only a freakish side effect. Though she might never have concrete answers, she trusted her own instincts in the matter. They were the key somehow- or rather, the lock... to something. She believed Torin and Lios were the actual keys. What she wanted was to find a way to access... whatever it was... without her brothers.

"This…" Jack shook his head. "You're sure you don't want to at least let the Doctor see the ones on your arms? Might be nice if you didn't have to skulk around so much."

"Jack…" she huffed and ran a hand through her dischevelled hair, "you know well as I do tha' tha'd be stupid. How do you think he'd like knowin' wha' I was plannin'? Reckon he'd still be helpin', or tha' he'd jus' chuck me right out? He can chuck me out after my girl is fixed. Back to the timelock. You're sure you can breach it?"

"Yes, Selene. I'll die once or twice, but I'll be able to get you your pinhole."

She winced. "Lemme see your vortex manipulator again."

"It's _fine_, doll. You've amped and re-calibrated it six times now. Dying a couple more times isn't going to kill me." He looked at her hopefully, but she only winced guiltily at the joke.

"An' you remember wha' I showed you?" Her eyes were imploring, speaking silent volumes about her fears and pain. Obsessing was how she managed her anxieties without falling apart. One couldn't fall apart if one always knew what to do. "How to forget after? Wanna practice again? You're really not a bad telepath, you know? Probably be pretty strong in the future if you keep practicin'."

"_Selene,_ you need to lighten up," Jack pushed. He understood the behaviour and wished he could do more than reassure her she was not alone. "You know what we need? A night out. You need to blow off steam. I've never met anyone so serious in my life, and that, my dear, _is_ saying something. I'm sorry, but you've got a major stick up your ass. You know you've got heavy stuff ahead and God knows you've got heavy stuff behind. You have to live now and enjoy the moments you can."

He pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her. She melted into him, tightly locking her own uncharacteristically bare arms around him and burying her nose in the neck of his light blue Oxford. He smelled like human, wool, spices, comfort and eternity. She took in a slow breath before pulling away and sitting up, all business again.

"I'm not askin' Himself for anythin', " she informed him firmly, jaws clenched, eyes hard.

He gave her an exasperated look.

"Jack, drop it. I know I haven't been the fairest dealin' with him, I do," she admitted reluctantly, "but I dunno. I jus' can't. Not now. Maybe not ever."

"It's not just unfair to him."

"Wha're you on about then?"

"I think you know exactly what I'm saying."

"Wha'? Torin and Li-"

"No-"

"-they're well happy an' thick as thieves with the idiot, aren't they? I'm not interfearin' with it!"

"You-"

"No. Don't even start. Why would I want his help or his- his anythin'? For me, the Doctor was my dad, an' then my dad was - is - dead, an' tha's on him too, innit. He made him possible, didn't make sure he was physically sound, then bloody left him in another universe, Jack."

Frustration slowly increased the pitch of her low, gravelly voice. Were the Doctor to hear it, he'd swear Jackie Tyler had possessed her granddaughter to haunt him from across the years and the void.

"An' then my mum was sad for years- _so many years-_ an' by sad I mean, broken, _broken,_ an' he should've known it, Jack! He should've_ known_ my mum wasn't the same anymore, but my dad said he never even bloody checked! He never _once_ checked!"

She viciously grabbed a piece of discarded machinery off the grating next to her and hurled it at the grey, coral wall.

"He got distracted by regenerating, then by an invasion, then by my bloody mum! Completely thick! An' still, he had another linear year to get curious, but did he? _Oh, no!_ A human takes in the whole bleedin' heart of the TARDIS, travels five billion years into her future, wipes out a horde of Daleks, an' lives to tell the tale when it killed him in two point seven seconds, but he can't be bloody bothered to maybe see if it did some bloody damage to the bloody human, _can he?"_

"Selene, calm-"

"Then there's me an' my family, an' how much is on us, 'cos, _dammit,_ _he never checked!_ He's like this mythical figure tha' my life is meant to revolve 'round an' it drives me mental when I look at him! I get- I get irrationally angry! I mean, I- someone- _people_ might die makin' all this work an' tha' prat will still be faffing about, probably with _my_ brothers in tow, long after it's over an' I've got nothin' left!" She kicked another piece of junk near her foot, ignoring the stabbing pain that shot through her bootless toes. "How is _any_ of it fair?"

Jack allowed the moments to pass while she calmed. He understood being angry at the Doctor's choices. The very same incidence that affected her so fundamentally was responsible for his inability to die, and therefore influenced every relationship and connection he made with other humans. And he'd also just been abandoned to it. He too had been bitter and angry for a long time. He didn't believe she was wrong for her anger, only that she was drinking her own poison rather than attempting to grow and heal. She was still very young he supposed, even if she was over a century in age.

"Tell me the name you chose," he bid after she seemed to recover a bit.

"Jack…" She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"No," he stated more firmly, grabbing her hand in his and entwining their fingers. "Tell me the name you chose."

She rolled her eyes and gave him a look like he'd dribbled on his shirt. "The Alpha."

"Why?"

"Are we really doin' this?"

"Tell me why, Selene."

"'Cos it's all up to me, innit?"

"No," he insisted with and equally annoyed look which said she was missing the point entirely. "Tell me why you didn't sit back like a good little Time Lady and call yourself Time Lady Selene."

"'Cos I didn't want to."

"_Exactly, Selene, exactly._ You _always_ have a choice. You _chose_ to be a leader and embrace the possibility of changing the universe and saving billions. _You_ chose the harder path, the Doctor didn't choose it for you. He's got no idea you're going through any of this. But what he thinks, and does, and believes has nothing to do with the choice you made." He pulled her into his arms once again and leaned them back against the lower part of the console, stoking her hair and placing a chaste kiss on her forehead. "You could leave all this behind right now, all this responsibility, all this worry and uncertainty, but you don't because you'd rather make your stand. You're so much like your mother that it makes me want to cry, and she would be so, so proud of you."

The girl looked close to tears, but swallowed them back. "Hypervodka, then?"

"That's the best thing you've said in days. And I'll do you a favour, I'll ask the Doc."

"Cheers, Jack," she beamed.

"You cover up and I'll go talk to the big man."

"Done."

They disentangled themselves from each other and stood to go about their tasks. He strode out into the larger console room to find it empty. Three mugs of cold tea were sitting on the control panel.

"Doc?" he called.

No answer.

He checked the galley and a few other common rooms before returning to find the Alpha in full armour and looking at him expectantly.

"Have we landed then? Or have we not left yet?"

"You know, I really have no clue. I can't find anyone. We're… alone." He waggled his brows at her.

She rolled her eyes and punched him playfully in the gut. "We're alone all the time, Dum-dum. An' you could never handle a woman like me. Not in a million years." Her words were light, but her insecurity was clear. She believed herself broken and unworthy. And probably doomed.

"Wouldn't stop me trying, I probably have that long."

"Well, we'll never know, will we?"

"I offered to die for you a few times and this is the thanks I get."

"Shut up, you randy git, I completely love you an' you bloody well know it."

"So where do you think they disappeared to?"

"Let's check, shall we?" She strode to the console monitor and typed in her query. She felt an impatient wave from the TARDIS and control was taken away from her. Gallifreyan began scrolling along the screen as fast as she could read them- which was faster than Harkness could track at all. To him it was a scrolling blur. "Oh, bloody hell. _Prats._ Bugger. Bugger, bugger, bugger. They never… Of course they did. Jack, you up for bit of a rescue mission?"

"Always."

"Good. Those idiots landed us on Olympia."

"That's bad?" He cocked his head. He was actually rather exited by the prospect of visiting the planet of other immortals that were rumoured to party like none others in the universe. He'd gotten drunk once on a smuggled bottle of Ambrosia, and the experience had been very unforgettable. This was exactly the type of trip he'd had in mind when he asked to come along.

"It is if you're a Time Lord," she grimaced.


	12. Something of the Wolf About You

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor profit from the writing of this fan fiction. No-pe.  
**

**So, I'm a major mythology buff. I eat it up and couldn't resist a planet like Olympia. Asgard was also unbelievably tempting, though having been with River, I didn't think the TARDIS would take him there again.  
**

**Olympia is referenced in DW prose, however, all of that which I've written into this fic is pure fantasy from my own brain - except for the stuff that isn't. Clytie, for example, is an actual Nymph in Greek mythology who fell in love with Helios and died of a broken heart when he fell in love with someone else. She became a sunflower. I'm not sure I gave her a happier end, but I wasn't trying for mythological accuracy, only borrowing from the Greeks to amuse myself and throw in a little of my geeky fangirlishness.**

* * *

"Blimey! This place is… Well, it's bloody gorgeous, that's what it is." For once it was the younger brother effusing while the elder stared open-mouthed and wide-eyed.

They stood, still as statues, just outside the TARDIS doors, frozen in wonder and awe of the unknown planet.

Pantheons of marble and gold shone brilliantly in the sunrise on this unknown planet as the early morning sun crested a snow-capped mountain which kept its solitary vigil over the gleaming marvels below. The sky was pale gold in the chilly, early morning hour and whisperings of clouds gently swagged the horizon like puffs of silvery gossamer. Gardens of brightly coloured flowers, most of which the brothers had never before encountered, flourished around the marble-paved canals of shimmering water that wended their ways through the city. The water itself picked up the gold of the sky and made it seem as if rivers of gold flowed like life's blood through the streets. Creeping ivy climbed nearly every wall in sight. Olive and fruit trees were scattered everywhere and an enormous white oak covered with thousands and thousands of just-stirring butterflies stood in the centre of the large, verdant courtyard before them.

The city was quiet but it seemed to pulse with hidden life and energy.

The Doctor quietly observed the boys as they gaped. Their reaction reawakened the thrill of exploration within him. He'd feared - was almost certain - he'd lost it after he lost Amy.

This. This was why he travelled.

Torin finally found his voice. "What is this place? Where are we?"

Inexplicably to the thunderstruck brothers, the Doctor frowned. "Somewhere we shouldn't be, I think," he confessed and straightened his bow-tie nervously. "Still," he grinned, "should be fine if we keep our heads down. Blend, Tylers, blend," he chided, wafting an arm at them as he did.

"Shouldn't we be dressed differently?" Lios, ever cautious, glanced down at his silver waistcoat and tight, black twill trousers in a worried manner. His sister would call them all idiots for running about unprepared and conspicuous. Their clothes were fine on Garazone Prime and other such market planets where diversity was the norm, but this place seemed as though it had a very unique and untouched culture inhabiting it.

The Doctor regarded him with an expression which clearly stated he cared very little for the idea of going incognito, in fact, he very much thought of the notion as boring and useless. "Nah," he replied like it was obvious, hands flapping, "just try not to get arrested."

The younger man gaped at him.

"Really," he insisted, clapping a hand on Li's shoulder and giving it a light, reassuring squeeze, "it's fine! Stop fretting! We're on Olympia! I think. Fairly positive, yes. Only… er… They don't really care for…" he moved in closer and stage whispered, "Time Lords." Then tapped his nose and leaned back away. "So, we'll be keeping that under our hats, even if we aren't wearing any at the moment."

Torin grinned, clearly twitching internally to be off and in the midst of all the exotic and unfamiliar.

"Just keep your mental shields up and try not to drink anything anyone offers you. It'll be fine. I think. Nearly positive," the Doctor continued in the same placating tone. "Besides! It's gorgeous! And just wait 'til you see the locals! _Yowzah!" _

Both brothers looked at him incredulously after he uttered the word. He'd tried to give the word up once and couldn't. It was a word he said in this body and therefore it was cool.

Well, they'd get used to it.

"Oh, look!" he dodged. "A fig tree! Love a fig." And with that, he was moving in the direction of the fruit trees and leaving them to look around.

"Oi!" Lios grabbed his brother's arm before he could get too far. "I have a feeling we shouldn't be here. I'm going back to let the Alpha know in case she has to get us out of it, at least."

"Lios…" He yanked his arm away from the blond man and huffed a sigh worthy of their crabby sister. "Just shut up and enjoy it for once!" Torin grabbed hold of his brother and dragged him after the Doctor.

They caught up and fell into step with the older man.

He was scowling at a gnarled tree with broad green leaves. "Figs are rubbish..." he muttered darkly, then clapped his hands together and adopted the demeanour of a university professor. "So! Olympia! Planet of the Almighty Immortal Gods! Well, not really gods, are they? Very, very, very long-lived natives though, and well-known throughout the universe. Earth was visited once early in human history by a few Olympians who made an emergency landing on a mountain in Greece. Well, I'm sure you clever boys can deduce what happened next. One of the golden ages of humanity! Of course, none of their myths actually happened, but the Olympians left a fingerprint on humanity that never quite went away, did it?"

"Why don't they like Ti-" Lios began soberly.

"Geejuhbrrnuh-uh! _Shhhh_!" He tapped his nose again once. "Well, rivalry! _Old_ rivalry! Nothing to fret about!"

"Come on, Li, stop being a prat," Torin rolled his eyes. "Look where we are! No ship parts in sight! And look!" He grasped one of his brother's shoulders and pointed toward the natives newly emerging from the pantheons. "People! Cor… Those're… look at_ her_…" His eyes were the size of saucers as he took in the woman who had emerged from a marble and gold pantheon and was filling an amphora in the canal to their left.

She was draped in shimmering, diaphanous cloth of sky blue and silver and her long, golden hair was intricately plaited around her head and ornamented with gold enamelled roses and jewelled ivy garlands. Her skin was a coruscate, golden tone and her lips a deep crimson. She hummed a lovely, lilting melody as she went about her business, and Torin found himself drifting dazed in her direction without thought.

His brother pulled him roughly away before he made a fool of himself.

He made a choked, disappointed sound in the back of his throat as the woman stood and vanished back between the carved white columns.

"Ah," the Doctor interjected nonchalantly, popping his head between their shoulders, "probably should have mentioned, not a big deal really, but that was a Muse. They're the ones who wear the silver sashes. Best to avoid looking at them directly or listening to them sing. They - er - inspire others to - er - act on impulse. Lower inhibitions and whatnot. Supposed to allow one to be creative, you know, letting go of the things that hold one back! Magnificent, eh?"

"Guh…" Torin agreed.

"Right," the Doctor smiled knowingly, "should be able to get some breakfast soon. The locals are all waking, now. Eat up, but don't wander off! And don't drink anything but the water. I'm going to find out which city we're in." The Doctor left them standing in the centre of the courtyard which was beginning to buzz with activity.

The alien butterflies had left the tree, filling the air and gently fluttering amongst the many lush gardens. One alighted on Li's nose and he giggled with child-like wonder. Its wings were silver, and rimmed and dotted in gold. He held up his hand and several more touched down upon it. He stayed as still as he could, allowing the beautiful insects to roam freely over his outstretched limbs. It tickled a bit, and he had a hard time keeping still to let them explore him as he himself observed them.

This was brilliant! He wished his sister could see it. His mum would have loved it here too! She would have laughed with utter delight at the sight of her son covered in hundreds of metallic butterflies, and danced around with joy at the beauty surrounding.

He heard a soft, tinkling giggle behind him, and was startled out of his reverie, sending up a cloud of silvery, fluttering wings as the insects took off into the air. He looked, first, for his brother and noticed he was alone.

_Fantastic._

That was what he got for allowing himself to be distracted. Bloody git, wandering off and leaving him standing there like a-

_Oh._

He'd turned and spotted a young woman with long strawberry hair that cascaded loosely behind her in soft waves under artfully draped plaits. Her intense, green eyes watched him with a joyful grin on her cherry-blossom coloured lips. She was swathed in soft white and gold cloth that was clinging to her tall, lithe figure in a way that made his stomach clench tightly.

He swallowed audibly.

She was carrying a basket of fruit that was unfamiliar to him. All were the shape of large aubergine but golden in colour. She tilted her head and smiled at him again. "You, sir, are a butterfly charmer. I have never before seen them behave so."

"Dahguh-er-um-oh?"

She giggled. "From where do you come? Your dress is strange and your face isn't known to me."

"Er - ah - yeah," he finally found his voice. "Not from around here. Far away from here. Just visiting here. I like it here. It's beautiful here."

Blimey, he sounded like a div.

She giggled again. He wished she wouldn't. It made his brain turn to jam and his gut feel like he'd swallowed a pack of the fluttering insects. He had little experience with women of the opposite sex. He had little experience with people in general, but women were an especially confounding conundrum. He couldn't behave as he did with his sister because his sister was apparently not typical by a long shot. Being shy made the comfortable, safe dynamic he shared with both his siblings easy to hide within. He used it as a buffer to keep from interacting with others - especially girls.

"I am Nymph Clytie."

He stood, stock still, and continued his ridiculous gaping.

"And you are called?"

"L-L-Lios." He extended a hand awkwardly.

She tilted her head again, looking at his outstretched appendage, and cocked a red-blonde eyebrow. "As in, Helios Shining?"

"Sh-short for it, yeah... Only not really."

He jerked his hand back and stuffed it in the pocket of his huge brown coat. They must not shake hands here.

"Just Lios, actually. O-or Li. You can call me Li if you like. My mum insisted that I'd never stop being teased if it was fully Helios. No one to tease me about it mostly, though. I-I didn't grow up with a lot of other children. Just my sister and brother, mostly, and they'd never have known the difference, now I think about it. Would've been completely normal. Normal is good, yeah? Very normal to be named H-Helios,"

-_danaritaxicor,_ he added in his head. Couldn't add that bit here and she probably wouldn't like him anymore if he did.

"Or, well, _you_ could call me Helios. I really wouldn't mind at all. Like it even, if you did- do- you- er, well, you can."

Blimey, when did he lose control over his gob? He sounded like Torin!

"Er - ah - erm - what're those?" He pointed to her basket and seized the opportunity to try to engage her in speaking instead of continuing to run his mouth like a clod.

She gave him another confused look. "Surely you recognise Ambrosia fruit when you see them?"

"Right!" He smacked himself on the forehead awkwardly. "Yeah. Ambrosia fruit. 'Course! Er... "

He shook his head to clear some of the haze from his brain. What had he been doing?

"Want to eat - er - food? Er - with me? Get something to eat, I mean. With me. You and I could eat - er - something. Together. If you wanted to."

He wanted to kick himself.

She smiled and his insides melted again. "I would be delighted, Helios Shining, Charmer of Butterflies."

Relief and triumph flooded him in equal measure. He grinned like an idiot and extended an arm, which she looked at in surprise for a moment, but took with no hesitation after. He swept the basket out of her hands and carried it for her, and led her from the courtyard with no idea where he was going.

* * *

.

* * *

The Doctor, meanwhile, was meandering his way through the Olympic marketplace, picking up rare fruits here and there to bring back to the TARDIS. Some he would eat with zeal, others would make brilliant jam and that alone was worth this trip into just slightly forbidden-ish territory. They might be able to tempt the elusive Alpha from her cave if they had a few delicacies as well. And if she still balked, well, none of it would be wasted.

Winning entirely so far.

He amused himself with the idea that he cared at all anymore. She was obviously content to stay withdrawn, and he figured he should just leave her to it, but he could hardly invest himself so thoroughly in her brothers and ignore how important they all were to each other. It wasn't as if he thought she was a lost cause either; she was her own brand of fascinating and frustrating, he just remained at a loss as to what he should do to bridge the chasm between them.

Perhaps swanning off with the people she cared for most wasn't the best way to go about it, but they'd be back before she was even aware of their absence and it made Torin and Lios happy. That was worth weathering anyone's huffy displeasure.

They were in the Outer City of Zeus Lycaeus and he was glad of it. If they'd ended up anywhere else, he might have ushered the boys straight back to the TARDIS, but Lord Lycaon was an old friend.

Sort of.

Well, Lycaon visited Arcadia a few times and the Doctor and he had gotten on - almost, sort of - in their mutual disgust with Time Lord arrogance and austerity.

Those diplomatic stays in Gallifrey's capitol hadn't ended well. The Time Lord High Council had effectively cut off dealings with the Olympians, and likewise the Olympians had banned all trade and commerce with Gallifrey, but that was centuries ago! And Olympians weren't really uptight, even if they did know how to carry a grudge for… well, indefinitely.

Still! Olympia! Hadn't been here since he escaped the dungeons of Apollo! Very exciting! And the boys - oh, right, the boys, he should probably go collect them - were getting a sight that no one in the universe really ever got to see. Literally stuff of legends.

He fished around in his pockets for some gold coins - they weren't Olympic, but gold was gold and acceptable almost everywhere - and offered them to the merchant for the fruit he had picked. She smiled and accepted them with a bow, pushing a few pastries filled with date jam in his direction. He stuffed one whole into his mouth and grinned in pleasure at the buttery sweetness.

Loved this planet. Best tarts and treats anywhere.

He set off to collect the Beta and Omega. He passed by a shop selling bolts of the shining silks that adorned the planet's people and a length that was an exact shade of TARDIS blue caught his eye. He stopped to pet it, and the vendor scowled momentarily at him and his sticky fingers, before adopting an expression of submissive interest. He grinned sheepishly and offered her a few of his remaining coins. Her demeanour changed instantly and she plucked the swath of silk from the wall, wrapping it around his neck before leaning in to kiss each of his cheeks.

They certainly had gotten friendlier here!

Come to think of it, he'd never met so many demonstrative female Olympians. And he wasn't seeing any male ones as he looked around either. Only ladies. Interesting.

The woman plucked from the wall another bit of silk in a pale gold colour which was spangled with swirls and stars and tied it about his waist. "This will bring you good fortune, young man. May the Wolf Goddess keep you ever in favour!"

"I'm sorry," he fished, "did you say, Wolf Goddess?"

"Of course!" she nodded in bemusement. "Lycanea, and may her light shine upon you!"

"But, isn't this City devoted to Zeus Lycaeus?"

She tilted her head and furrowed her golden brows. "Not for hundreds of years! Not since the Great Purge. From where did you come, stranger?"

"Oh, nowhere anymore," he evaded with a wave of a limp hand, a charming smile, and pull at his fringe. "I get restless. I travel around here and there. The Great Purge, did you say?"

"Yes," she replied hesitantly as if the subject were a little taboo, or at the very least impolite to mention in mixed company, "when female Olympians were banished to these out-land cities to protect our peace and virtue. Surely you know! It is a rare treat to have a man call on us! Thank you for the blessings you have offered!"

"Right!" He nodded amiably with another smile that he hoped would sooth any suspicions she was experiencing. "You're welcome. Should I... Not be here? My last visit was before the - er - Great Purge."

"Good sir," she reassured, "men are always welcome here. It is the women that cannot go to the Capitol Cities."

"Yes, of course. Stupid of me. Carry on."

Something was definitely, very much not right on this planet. Segregation of the sexes? On Olympia? That couldn't be right! These people revelled in the company of the opposite sex - had fertility festivals in the names of Aphrodite and Hestia which lasted weeks! Not to mention the drunken ruckus they made whenever it came time to honour Bacchus! The Maenads were so zealous in their celebrations that no one was able to resist joining them once they'd started. The culture had never been so abstemious! What the devil had happened?

Right. First, he'd get the Tylers. Then they'd figure out what was going on.

However, when he returned to the courtyard, the boys were nowhere in sight.

Did _no one_ listen when he said, "_Don't wander off?"_

No, they really didn't. Long gone were the days when he had an old face that young people listened to and followed his directives implicitly.

Actually, had they ever?

Forget it, didn't matter. Finding the Tylers mattered, so that's what he'd do.

* * *

.

* * *

Torin found himself staring up at a shrine dedicated to a snarling wolf. The enormous marble statue was beautiful and unsettling. Something about it was eerily familiar and wrong. It just felt... insidious, like the wolf in question was a gross misrepresentation of something benevolent. It evoked the feeling of ferocity and danger where he'd always associated wolves with family and divinity. He didn't like it and couldn't pin down exactly what made it so... wrong. Despite the garlands of pink and yellow roses draped the altar and lined the marble walls, and offerings of strange golden fruit sat in woven baskets before him, the whole temple seemed steeped in menace.

For the first time since he'd begun his exploration, he found himself wishing for his brother and sister, if only to get what they made of it all. Being on his own was great, lovely, _molto bene, _but it felt like he was missing a limb.

Perhaps it was just the newness of the culture and his own lack of experience with the universe. He certainly hadn't been given cause by any of the ladies he'd bumped into to feel such alarm, quite the contrary, actually. They'd been friendly as anything. He was probably just experiencing culture shock. They probably only saw a staunch defender when they looked at the vicious snarl, nothing to worry about, after all, they made offerings of fruit and flowers and not living sacrifices or anything awful.

Out of curiosity, he casually picked up a piece of the golden fruit and bit into it.

His eyes widened in shock at the indescribably flavour, then rolled back with pleasure. It was truly heavenly, with a mellow sweetness and a slightly tart aftertaste, and juice dripped down his chin as he chewed. He'd eaten the whole thing in a matter of seconds and quickly snatched up another.

He'd quickly eaten four and was going in for a fifth when his wrist was seized in a steely grip by gnarled golden fingers.

"Oh. Hullo!" he intoned amiably with a wave of his sticky, free hand to the silver-haired crone who was glaring daggers at him. "Good, those! What are they?"

He felt a tingling emanating from her fingers and a pushing at the back of his consciousness. He quickly tried to re-enforce his barriers as she prodded.

Had the Doctor mentioned the natives were telepathic? He couldn't remember, but he didn't think so. Would've been useful information, but he didn't want to assume the withered old woman had any nefarious designs on him. In the end, it was just one more thing to file away.

He hoped.

"Stealing the offerings of the sacred fruit to Lycanea is utterly disrespectful, boy!" she chastised in a creaky, unsettling voice. "Why would you do such a thing?"

"Right! Sorry!" he blustered in return.

Not one of his better choices in general, he supposed, but he hadn't harmed anyone or anything, maybe she just wanted paying for them, and he was sure, if she'd let him find the Doctor, the situation would be easily rectified. He hoped he wouldn't be the one to foul up the only directive the Doctor had really given by going and actually getting arrested.

"Didn't mean to offend! I was curious and it was quite delicious. Got carried away. Won't happen again."

"What are you, child?"

Oh. Not good.

Bloody non-existent impulse control. He must not have gotten his shields up in time to keep her out entirely.

"A _man!"_ he shot back as puffed up as possible. Maybe if he waffled proudly enough, she'd back down a bit. "Good Lord! Haven't you ever seen one before?"

She relaxed and let go of his now aching wrist. "Not in many, many years," she said almost wistfully before tentatively adding, "You have something of the wolf about you."

"Oh, do I?" He wasn't sure with their depiction of wolves if he should be impressed or offended. He certainly didn't think of himself in the way that they portrayed them, but again, cultural differences... "That's interesting. Well, places to see and all! Good chat."

He tried to scurry away but she stepped in front of him.

"You will find what you have come seeking if you follow me," she persisted as he tried to move away.

"Weeell, you see, I'm not really looking for _anything," _he deflected, rather unsuccessfully if her face were any measure. "Just - er - you know, seeing - er - the sights."

Still she did not move out of his path.

"Lot's of sights about. Not here. Out there," he babbled. "More out there than in here, actually. So I'll be going. Out there."

He moved to go around her several times, but she kept putting herself directly in his path.

"Right." He resisted the urge to just pick her up and move her to the side. She was small for an Olympian and he could if he wanted to. "If you'll just move over a bit this will work much better."

Several more wrinkled old women in grey robes appeared from behind the altar and surrounded him.

So, bit of a pickle. A little tricky, sure. Just a tad not good.

"I do insist, you see."

"Ah, yes. I'm gathering that. Genius, me." He spun in a small circle, taking in each of the shrivelled, golden women in their heavy, grey attire. "Any chance I can persuade you not to? Insist, that is."

Many pairs of hands grabbed him from all sides in answer.

"That'll be a no, then."

* * *

.

* * *

Clytie was absolutely entrancing.

It was the way she moved like she weighed no more than a feather- or maybe the way the sunlight caught her coppery hair just right and it shined like rose gold- or perhaps it was the way her bottle-green eyes danced as she named each flower they passed- or the way her slender golden arm felt tucked into his own... perfect, and soft, and- not that he could _feel_ her skin, but he imagined it was soft and velvety- or how each time she offered him a bit of fruit, she brought it right to his lips and delighted in the pleasure she saw in his eyes. Or maybe it was the way she laughed when he blustered and made speeches worthy of Torin's Almighty Gob. His inexperience made it impossible to tell. He was feeling like a goner already and he hadn't known her three hours! Only two hours, thirty-eight minutes and five seconds.

"Helios Shining?" She caressed his name - well, sort of his name if you squinted and tilted your head, and overlooked the fact that his mum had staunchly refused to officially make it his name - in her mouth like a lover's embrace. He didn't think he was imagining it.

"Yeah?"

"Where do you come from?" she posed innocently with a disarming smile. "Your speech is strange, your attire unlike any I have seen, and you tell tales of places I am sure are not found anywhere on Olympia. Your mind, too, is closed to me. Are you a god?"

"W-What?" He choked and spluttered, missing the implication that her mental capacities were more than he'd picked up on. "N-no! Of course not! Nowhere near! I'm just a- a person! A travelling person, who - er - travels, and er - popped in for a bit to see the sights and such! Beautiful here, you know?" he said looking only at her as he did.

She smiled her glorious smile which showed each of her pearly teeth between plump, pink lips, and his legs felt wobbly.

"Will you be travelling again soon?"

Was that sadness in her voice, or was he projecting?

His stomach dropped. "Well, y-yeah, I guess I will. See, I'm not by myself. My - er - family is here with me and we - er - really can't stay."

She cast her eyes downward sadly, and nodded. "Is it very strange that I feel I know you, Helios Shining? Like I have known you for thousands of years?"

He swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat. "Not at all, Clytie. I - er - feel like that too. I mean we just met and already I- wait, thousands of years? How old are you?"

She laughed and it sent shivers up his spine.

"Ageless, of course. You are not?"

"N-no... No, not quite."

Lios didn't know what to make of it but decided, quite boldly for him if he thought about it, that it didn't matter at all. Well, to him. Maybe it would matter to her? He hoped not. It wasn't like he had a human lifespan to her- not human one.

"Old enough," he said firmly, "but well, that's amazing, yeah? Have you always lived here?"

"No, I once resided in the Capitol City of Zeus Olympus," she had a touch of melancholic regret in her voice and refused meet his eyes as she spoke, "but that was long ago when my people were... very different."

"Different? Different how? I - er - don't know much about Olympia, but I'd like to very much - if _you'll_ tell me."

They sat together near the stream which fed the city's canal system and she reached a couple of slender, golden fingers into to the cool water. She didn't speak for three minutes and eleven seconds while she thought, and the only sounds were bird song and the babbling brook before them.

"Long ago," she began timidly just when he was about to begin apologising profusely for bring up painful memories and renounce his request to learn her history, "my people lived as one. Peace and prosperity were universal and without exception. We were the models to many other worlds. Models of culture and government and knowledge. Our influence was far-reaching and our lives blessed."

A wistful smile graced her visage for only a moment before it was replaced by an expression of bitter pain.

"Then, hundreds of years ago, a war came to the planet of the Lords of Time and all the systems surrounding them were thrown into chaos," she almost whispered. "The war raged for nearly a century before a man, fleeing from its ravages, sought safe-haven here."

Lios swallowed hard but the lump forming in his throat seemed to be stuck fast, and growing.

"At first, we welcomed him and made him a part of all that we could. He was thankful and charming and eager to share his knowledge. We had so much to learn about his people, having never really associated much with the Lords of Time. Our culture, you see, was was of little import to these mighty Lords of Time, and we cared little for such arrogance. Do you know of them?"

Lios forced himself to shake his head and he thanked the universe for being able to regulate his temperature so he wouldn't sweat.

"I thought not. They have been gone for a very long time. The war destroyed them all... I must admit, and please do not think me very wicked, but I am glad of it."

Lios once again tried swallowing that lump which he was sure had grown to the size of a small moon. "W-why is that?"

"They were evil."

"They can't all have been."

She shook her head sadly. "I cannot believe that when so many innocents have suffered on their behalf."

Eager to move the conversation in any other direction, Lios asked, "What happened to the one who came here?"

"That man shared his knowledge unreservedly. His influence ushered in a period of great technological advance and we rejoiced, but the man was insidious. He betrayed our trust. He killed our High Lord Zeus Thunderous and together with the traitorous Lady Hera they unleashed the Titans and conquered and slaughtered so many. We had not experienced such wanton destruction and death since the High Lord Zeus imprisoned the Titans in the Before Time, and we were devastated. We had no hope, and the few lands where resistance still existed were soon to be crushed when the Wolf Goddess came. She destroyed the Titans and banished the Lord of Time and the Lady Hera forever. I know not where they fled, the Lord, it is said went back to the stars and perhaps to his war, and the Lady with him, though some say she is still cowering on the great mountain, waiting for the Lord to return for her." She heaved a sigh before continuing her tale. "The Wolf Goddess was never seen again, and my people, torn and broken, were left to rebuild. A new High Lord was elected but my people remained divided. Some believed the fault of our suffering lie with the man, others said it was the Lady's evil influence that inspired such heinous acts, so the High Lord decreed that peace was best kept if the sexes no longer influenced each other, and all of Olympia's women were sent to cities outside Zeus Olympus. We are forbidden to travel to the inner cities, though the men may come here to trade and propagate."

"Do you ever wish it could go back? To the way it was, I mean, without everything being separate? Seems wrong that you can never go home again." Lios frowned. Her story had gutted him. He wondered who the Time Lord that cocked everything up had been.

"Yes, I miss the place of my birth immensely. I am thankful for the peace, however."

"Yeah, I guess that's something."

He flopped down onto his back and looked up at the bright blue sky. The silver clouds from the morning had burned off and the expanse of azure seemed to go on for all eternity.

"But this can't be the only way, can it?" he asked, folding his hands behind his neck as she leaned in next to him. He shivered again at her proximity. "Why hasn't anyone tried putting it right? Or rather back the way it was. Surely, that was long enough ago at this point, you lot could give it another go?"

"Only the High Lord or Lady may change the laws." She smiled sadly and returned her gaze to the water.

His heart broke for her and her people. Surely they could do something! A Time Lord made this mess. Perhaps a few of them could fix it?

He got to his feet and pulled her up after him. "Come on, Clytie. There's someone you should meet."

"Oh? Another traveller?"

"Yes. He's called the Doctor."


	13. Ambrosia

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor profit from the writing of this story.**

**Selene directly quotes Nine twice. Once from "Rose" and the other from "World War Three." Obviously, I didn't write those lines.**  
**The line from WW3 is one of my favourite exchanges between Rose and the Doctor. Ever. Or maybe the Doctor and anyone. Ever. Christopher Eccleston. I just can't even. And, yeah, I think what the Alpha has to say about it pretty much sums it up.**

**The Alpha likes to throw things. ****She developed exceptional hand-eye coordination at a young age, and whether it was due to the propensity to chuck things, or the throwing was a byproduct of being very accurate remains a mystery. ****It started when she was a tot and too small to reach what Tentoo and Rose had engineered to be out of her reach. She found it to be an efficient means of knocking them into her little hands - books mostly at the time, but also tins of biscuits, etc. So, she throws stuff - at people - and as the Doctor complained earlier, it hurts. Tentoo and Rose tried to get her to stop, but if you've ever had a kid with a habit like that, you know how easy it is to curb a habit once they've decided it's not only effective, but fun. Besides which, Torin and Lios benefited from the skill as well, they weren't going to tattle. **

* * *

"If you laugh or make a single joke, I swear on my TARDIS, I'll chuck you into the next back hole we pass."

The Alpha was feeling a bit self-conscious, to put it mildly. She and Jack had painted themselves gold to blend in with the natives and donned appropriate apparel from the TARDIS wardrobe. The ship had it displayed prominently the moment she walked into the spiralling room full of costumes and clothing, and, as she wasn't fussy and just wanted the whole charade behind her, she let the ship's judgement be definitive. The robes were silver and midnight blue with silver spangles that twinkled like stars in the night sky, highlighting the shimmering paint job on her skin. It clung to her body femininely in the middle bits and floated away from her legs and upper body, leaving her neck and arms exposed. It was extremely awkward for her despite its loveliness, and she longed for her trousers, jumper and boots. The strappy sandals and flimsy gown would be bloody ridiculous to try to run in. She fervently hoped those three prats hadn't caused any trouble so she and Jack could just collect them and go. At least the paint covered her markings completely and she shouldn't need to stress over keeping them hidden - so long as no one doused her with water and it didn't rain - but there was a sort of freedom, she grudgingly admitted to herself, in taking off the armour.

"Not a chance. You are stunning. Seriously. Drop dead gorgeous. And a girl! I'd never have guessed - OW! That was the only one! I swear!"

Jack's own chiton was a deep crimson and half the length of hers, trimmed in a golden, Greek key design. His muscular arms, shoulders, and legs sparkled with the gold paint that accentuated the contours and tone. Not that she'd been looking. She definitely hadn't been looking. He was Captain Jack Harkness, interstellar playboy and inter-species Romeo, and he was her mate and trusted confidant! The only mate she'd ever had outside her brothers. So she definitely didn't look when he bent to lace up the leather sandals around his paint-covered calves. Definitely. She only hoped he was wearing pants beneath, but knowing Jack…

She cleared her throat and shook her head to banish any thought of Jack's pants. "Okay. We need a plan, yeah?"

Jack grimaced in preparation for her tirade, but she pretended not to notice.

"These people're really strong telepaths, so make sure you don' make skin on skin contact for too long, yeah?" That would be the hardest and most troublesome bit if they ran into problems so she made sure to catch his eye and drive the point home. "I'm dead serious about tha', Harkness." She pointed a finger at him and gave him a stern glare, "_Don't try to have it off with anyone."_

"Sweetheart -"

"An' maybe I better go over shieldin' again," she said as her stern face melted into worry. "Shieldin' won' work for long if you're touchin', 'specially since your brain's biology isn't as advanced as mine. You're not bad for havin' a titchy brain an' all, but you'll never last long against these people."

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed.

"Judgin' by the amount of water evaporation, diffusion of the leaves, an' temperature of the tea -"

"No way," he interrupted incredulously. "You're full of it."

She paid him no mind and steamrolled on.

"- they been gone four hours an' nine minutes give or take a minute," she stopped a moment before admitting grudgingly, "okay, _maybe_ two, but they really can't've gotten too far on foot. An' two of 'em have attention spans of ruddy toddlers. A twenty-seven point nine two kilometre radius, tops. 'S doable," she proclaimed optimistically. Then her face dropped and her brows contracted. "Unless they got in a cruiser - or found a teleport - so we should have a look at wha' they use to get 'round. I know we'd cover more ground if we split, but I don' wanna lose you too so, here's wha' we'll -"

"Selene…"

She started pacing in front of the doors, ignoring his call once again, and moving her hands restlessly in search of some article of clothing to tug in her anxiety.

"If there's a market, we can ask if any strange blokes - an' let's hope they'd the good sense to stay together - have come wanderin' through. Wha'm I sayin'?" She snorted. "'Course there's always a market- So market first-"

"Selene."

"-an' if no one's seen 'em, then we should split. I'll check the lock up - though maybe we should do tha' straight off anyway - an' you-"

"_Selene!_"

"Wha?!" She halted her pacing and glared at him. "I'm kind of in the mid-"

"You're doing it again."

He put his hands on her shoulders and she relaxed a fraction.

"Well, yeah!" She let herself lean into him and looked at him with an expectant but affectionate annoyance. "How divvy do you think I am? Not gonna run 'round without any idea wha' I'm meant to be doin'!"

He pulled her a bit closer and moved his hands from her shimmering shoulders, stroking the faux golden skin that was so rarely ever allowed to see the light of day. "You don't need to plan every second of your life!" He kissed her inky hair that had flecks of errant paint faintly scattered between strands. "Relax and you just might have - God forbid - a little fun."

"This is _serious,_ Harkness," she admonished sternly and pulled away to resume her pacing. She wasn't in the mood to be cajoled. _"Not_ the time for havin' a laugh."

"You're impossible."

"No, jus' not thick like-"

"Do you trust me?"

She rolled her eyes and huffed. "Yeah, 'course, but my only family is out there on a planet tha' hates 'em on principle. D'you know wha' I read earlier? 'S not-"

He grinned, taking her mercurial mood in stride, and talked right over her. "Do you know how many times I've done this type of thing?"

"Wha'? Gone out in public painted arse to elbows? Probably loads, but I don' wanna know 'bout it."

He guffawed and took her face between his palms, pecking her silky hair again with his golden lips. "Oh, shut up. Let's go."

He spun her on the spot and frog-marched her out the TARDIS doors.

Both their jaws hung open as they took in the beauty of Olympia, which, in the late morning sun, shone everywhere like gold. The courtyard was full of Olympic ladies who were eating fruit and languorously stretching out by the canals while gossiping happily. A white-capped mountain dominated the horizon, and the Alpha's senses were assaulted with the various perfumes of the many gardens and smells of freshly baked goods. She hadn't realised how hungry she was until the sweet and savoury smells beckoned her.

Right. Not time to muck about thinking about eating when she was skint anyway. She couldn't work to pay for a meal and risk being discovered, there wasn't likely to be a cash point to sonic, and Torin always held on to it in any case. Food was secondary to her mission - it wasn't a pleasure trip; she'd just have to ignore the tantalising aromas for the time being.

Forcing herself to focus, she scanned her immediate surrounding for the familiar figures of her brothers to no avail. Brows knitted, she grabbed Jack's hand and charged forward into the throng.

Avoiding direct skin to skin contact seemed all but impossible without her accustomed layers. The marketplace was thick with women that seemed to have no concept of personal space. They reached out to each other and kissed cheeks at each meeting and farewell and touched or held hands while they chatted. Someone was always trying to stroke her arms or caress her cheeks, or reach out to brush fingers through her choppy black locks. She swallowed the urge to bat hands left and right away from her and Jack. Wouldn't do to stick out when this seemed to be the cultural norm, but it grated on her nerves like nails on a chalkboard.

Hadn't they ever heard of a personal-space bubble?

They were popping her bubble, and it was torture.

She tried to ignore the discomfort and made double sure she had impossibly thick walls surrounding her mind while she concentrated on scanning for familiar faces.

Jack, of course, was on cloud nine. He must have decided when in Rome - er - no, that idiom would be stupid, never mind - but he was very happy to return every caress and kiss. It made her unreasonably irritable. In addition to popping her bubble, they were getting handsy with her best mate!

Terrible manners, all of them.

She definitely didn't like Olympians.

When he stopped for a couple proper snogs, the Alpha angrily considered just leaving him to it so he'd stop slowing her down - only she really didn't want to leave him to it either.

The only upside was that these people seemed to take to him and shoved food at him with not a little annoyingly coquettish simpering. He quite happily divided the spoils as they walked.

"Oh," she practically moaned with pleasure at the flavours exploding on her tongue. "Tha' is _gorgeous!_ Jack," she, in a complete one-eighty of feeling after experiencing the morsels he'd procured, pushed him toward a blushing golden woman with a tray of pies, "try gettin' a few more of those bits with the fig and custard, an', oooh, more of the veg pasties. Blimey, I wish I had pockets. Be nice to have a few of these later. Certainly beats Monster Munch."

"That sounds suspiciously like enjoyment," he teased. "Careful, or you may end up having the 'f' word."

"Shut up. Pass us one of them bottles then. I'm sponged."

He handed it to her absently and went to talk to a singing blonde in a silver sash.

Just as she lifted the bottle of sweet-smelling, amber liquid to her lips, she was nearly knocked off her feet when someone collided with her, spilling the juice all over her right hand and forearm. The paint started to run, and she warred with her internal panic and the urge to shout at the offender who was sprawled at her feet. She hastily dabbed at the smeared areas but only succeeded in staining the silver sash with gold and exposing a noticeable patch of pink skin with swirling golden circles.

As he clambered to his feet, the Alpha saw who had run into her, and blanched beneath her golden camouflage.

Right. Bad timing.

Or not. The Doctor apologised without looking at her, then continued trying to manoeuvre through the crowd while touching as few people as possible.

She ripped the stained bit from her skirts and tied it as artfully as she could manage around the exposed bit of skin, then ran and grabbed Jack away from the woman he was chatting up - just in time too, apparently, as he had just started to unclasp the left side of his robe - _what the bleedin'_ \- _oh,_ _never mind_ \- and dragged him along as she ran after the Doctor.

The very conspicuously-not-an-Olympian Doctor.

The very _alone_ Doctor.

The Doctor who very definitely didn't have the two most important people in her life safely with him.

The soon to be very dead Doctor if he'd lost them or let them get into any trouble.

He kept ducking out of her sight, and she'd have to put on a burst of speed to recover ground once she spied him again.

She knew she lost Jack after the third time this had happened, but there was no time to go back for him, and little danger to him by comparison, really, so, instead of going back for him, she focused on collecting her Time Idiots. And how much trouble could Jack- well, she couldn't dwell too long on that.

She'd just have to nab the Doctor, then go back for Jack and they'd _all_ find Lios and Torin together, no splitting up nonsense.

Then they'd get the hell out of here. Too many variables on this rock. It did her head in.

The Doctor had slipped away again and she was spinning in circles to find him.

She spotted him talking to a woman selling baubles nearly half a kilometre away.

There had to be a way to get his attention before he ducked out of sight again.

She stooped as she waited for the path to clear, scooped up a small stone, took aim, and threw it as hard as she could at his left shoulder, praying fervently that no one made a sudden turn into its trajectory.

The Doctor clutched at his shoulder and spun in her direction, searching the crowd. His eyes glossed over her once, twice, then snapped back and glared at her with a look of pained vexation.

She let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding and ran toward him with a cheeky grin.

She fleetingly realised she was certainly smiling more than usual - or more than she had since they'd crossed the void. Perhaps Jack had been right about blowing off steam, and this was better than hypervodka any day. Even with the annoyingly handsy people and maddening members of her party who kept disappearing, there was nothing like a good run and a bit of adventure.

She'd never admit that to Himself though, not in a million years.

"Tyler, as glad as I am to see you out of your cave, I wish you would find a new way of getting my attention, honestly! Did your mum know about this terrible habit? It bloody hurts!" He stopped rubbing his smarting shoulder and tilted his head at her huge smile and odd appearance. "What are you wearing? You really outdid yourself. I'm properly impressed. What is it?"

He pointed the sonic at her skin to scan the particulate make-up of the gold facade then rubbed at her shoulder with a finger. She batted it away.

"Brilliant! Very realistic looking!"

"Actually, it's a compound the TARDIS came up with to allow for maximum breathability an' heat ven'ilation," she grinned, feeling quite clever and preening ever so slightly at his sincere admiration of her efforts to appear indigenous. "Though, tha's more for Jack's sake 'cos he's got a rubbish human vascular system. Two hearts're better'n one, eh? Bit cold when she sprayed it on though. Then she hot air-dried me! The things tha' ol' girl can do. Madness, I'm tellin' you- _Oi!_" Her eyebrows contracted again, and her goofy smile was replaced by something altogether less pleasant. "Now's not the time to be talkin' 'bout this, is it! You're distractin' me! Where're my brothers?"

"I'll find them. Don't worry."

She went very still and closed her eyes. The Doctor took a small step back and braced himself for the imminent explosion of curses and maybe fists. Instead, she huffed and shook her head, wilting like a popped balloon.

"I could shout at you, an' tell you all of wha's in my head right now, but no real point, innit?"

The Doctor looked at her like she'd grown two heads.

"Well, not like you give a damn, do you? Nothin' stopped you from leavin' 'em, so wha' difference would it make if I told you how stupid it was?"

"Very much untrue! I give many damns, in fact, I was looking for them when you so rudely decided to start throwing rocks at me! Again! Did I mention, that hurts?"

She smirked smugly before her brows met in the middle once more.

"Still lost 'em."

"I'll get them back! And what are you, their mother?" he sniffed. "I have a bit of news for you, Alpha, and it may come as a shock, but they don't need you to hold their hands to cross the street. They're big boys now."

Again, for a moment, she looked like she might explode, but it quickly morphed into something he might've called guilt if he thought her capable of experiencing such things.

"'S jus' a bad place... dangerous..." she muttered. "...I mean... maybe you're... maybe you might be..."

He took the sonic out again and scanned her face. She batted it away and started to chuckle, then caught herself with a hand over her mouth and knitted her eyebrows together.

"Go on, scan then. I ate loads of food tha' I didn't even think about identifyin' first, an' I do feel a bit loose. Strangish. Not normal. Go on."

He scanned her before asking, "Did you have anything to drink?" then checked the results with a frown.

"Nah- well, almost, but you crashed into me an' spilt it all, didn't you?"

"Oh, was that you then?"

"Yeah, you barmy git!"

"There's nothing wrong with you. Maybe a _little_ less inhibited if you ate something with the golden fruit in it, but nothing concerning and so as long as you stay away from drinking anything but water, you'll be fine. Well, I suppose if you ate _large_ amounts of the fruit they make Ambrosia Nectar from, you might have a bit of a problem, but no one is allowed to eat them in any kind of real quantity. You'd have to eat two, maybe three _entire_ fruit, so, well, I think you're fine."

He stowed the sonic back in his jacket pocket and pulled her with him by the painted arm into a more secluded alcove where they wouldn't constantly have to dodge the touches and telepathic nudges from the throng of women around the bazaar.

"How long've they been gone?"

"What? Whom?"

She stared at him silently, rather unamused.

"Oh, yes, right. Only five hours, nearly. Four hours, forty-one minutes."

"Right," she huffed. "All bleedin' day. Beau'iful. Perfect. How dangerous would it be to - er - call out to 'em telepathically then?"

"Well, on Earth I'd've done hours ago. Here? You'd basically be shouting to everyone in the city, so I'd say, only very extremely, and - hello - rude!"

"Yeah, a bit."

"A tad, yes."

"So, I had this whole thing planned where I asked 'round an' people gave me answers, but you've done tha' one, haven't you, an', unless you're an utter clod, 's not workin'. So, nex' bet says they're in trouble. Where do they lock people up?"

"Thankfully, I am not a clod, and as far as I can tell, there isn't any such place here in this city. Haven't you noticed yet? And you're having a go at me for being thick?"

She stepped back and surveyed the picture painted before her, taking in every detail she could. Nothing seemed out-of-place, nor sinister in any way, but she wasn't exactly an expert on the cultural norms.

"S'pose the way they all touch all the time might indicate a-"

"Let go of the fine details, Alpha. Stop _dissecting_ and tell me what's all around you."

"Eh?"

"If you painted a picture," the Doctor sighed impatiently, "what would its contents be? I'm not asking for hidden meanings or anything socially profound. Contents only."

"Loads of women floggin' stuff an' chattin'."

"Say it again."

"Loads of… oh. Oh, I _am_ thick! How did I _miss_ tha'?"

He tapped his nose. "Can't get too caught up in looking for patterns and allow yourself to actually _see_ them. Take them in. Bigger picture and all. Your mum was brilliant at that."

"Yeah... I know," she replied in a small voice. Her father had tried to drill the very same lesson into her countless times before he was gone. She always struggled with it.

It washed over her then that this man - this infuriating person with whom she couldn't stop arguing - was the same who took her mother on all the adventures that had made up the majority of the stories she grew up hearing. She hadn't believed it truly. _That_ man had always and only been her father in her eyes...

...but that was just it. They were the same. This man had loved her mum the same as her father.

She let the moment go with a shake of her head and a huff, and refocused on the task at hand. "So, you think they've got 'em somewhere secret then, no cells to keep 'em in since an all female society, in a theoretical sense, should be Utopian paradise. But 's not, is it?"

"Not even close," he replied with a smug smile and a superior look. "And I mean you, on both counts, but nice try. Prisoners on Olympia, male and female are teleported directly to the nearest Capitol City, so no need for any kind of holding area in the lesser cities. Women are more than capable of committing crimes and they know it. _Utopian paradise._ Honestly! Gender bias much? Have you _looked_ in the mirror lately? You're scarier than half the things I've come up against anywhere in the wide universe. I've met Daleks less steely than you."

"I really do hate you, you know."

"And your brothers are in the middle of a city filled with beautiful, interesting, and very _friendly_ women," he rubbed his superior powers of deduction in a little further, "I don't think they're prisoners at all. I think they're chatting up girls and don't want to be found yet."

"_Chattin' up girls?_"

He reached up to awkwardly push back at his wayward fringe, and examined his shoe laces. "Yes, I understand that's what young men often do in situations where they come across attractive women. Especially if they were never told that Ti- that we aren't supposed to be interested in - er - chatting up girls."

_"You've_ never exactly had a problem with it, have you?" she smirked and rolled her amber eyes.

"Oi! _Me?_ I do not - I have never-"

"'_I can feel it. The turn of the Earth. The ground beneath our feet spinning at a thousand miles an hour_..'" She affected a Northern burr and yanked at her ears then her smirk widened into a downright smug grin. "Or my personal favourite: '_Right now there's this plasma storm brewing in the Horsehead Nebula. Fires are burning, ten million miles wide. I could fly the TARDIS right into the heart of it, then ride the shock wave all the way out. Hurtle right across the sky, and end up... anywhere.'_" By the end of her monologue she was fighting fits of evil laughter. "'S like the Time Lord equivalent of tellin' her you've a flash car, an' offerin' her a ride. You can't tell me you weren't tryin'a get off with my mum then."

"That's cheating, that is, you little terror."

The teasing look dropped without a trace as she scanned the crowd again and tapped her foot. Torin and Lios chatting up girls? The idea was as foreign as playing nice with the bow-tie-wearing git in front of her. She's been known to run around with a bloke now and again, but Torin and Lios? Torin's type was nerdy humans- not that he ever went further than a flirt, a friendly cuppa, and a chat - and Li? Well, Lios wouldn't know what to do with a female of any species if you handed him a manual and visual aids. He was too shy. It was ridiculous to even entertain the idea.

"They're _never_ chasin' after women. I _know_ my brothers. They're jus' not. You don't know 'em like I do. They'd explode if pretty girls even talked to 'em. No. Someone's got 'em an'-"

"Let it go, Alpha. They're young men. Aren't you interested in _why_ there are only females as far as the eye can see?"

"Not really, ta."

"I mean, it's not right, is it?"

"Really, jus' want my brothers back 's all."

"Something _had_ to have happened. There had to have been a catalyst."

"You stopped listenin' to me before you even started talkin', didn't you."

"What could make a society, which once held entire festivals devoted to love and mating, suddenly split in two?"

"Oh, Lord!" she exclaimed in a sudden panic. "We should get Jack. He's probably right _pissed._ We didn't know 'bout the drinkin'."

"It had to have been of enormous significance! I mean, they call the eviction of every female from the inner cities 'The Great Purge!' That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" He started to pace in the narrow alleyway. "Says something about the attitude of it all. I mean, why not 'The Great Separation' or 'The Great Divide?' No, they call it the 'Purge,' like women are evil, or corrupt, or somehow less than desirable - and they've never even met _you_."

"Oi!"

"Very, extremely not nice, and not at all like the society I recall."

"Maybe they were miffed after their queen person went mental," she threw out casually, trying not to let him bait her with his goading.

"What?" He stopped pacing and stared at her intently. "What was that? Repeat that last thing you said."

"Welcome back then," she smirked. "I _said,_ maybe, after the old queen went completely mental an' killed half her people, they quite likely got a _bit_ put out, an' did somethin' drastic. Try readin' a bit before you leave the TARDIS sometime, Bow-tie!" She shook her head in disdainful superiority.

"Oi!" he growled. "I happen to be an expert on all sorts of history! My history-memory is perfect!"

"Yet, you didn't remember the second biggest disaster in their entire cultural past. Food for thought, 's all I'm sayin'."

"And you call yourself a Ti-... Tell me I don't have to say it." His impatience dripping in his voice, he gave her a skeptical look.

She just stared blankly in response.

He sighed when he received no answer. "Time can-"

She smacked herself on the forehead. "Can be re-written, yeah. Point taken, I'm a div. So, the queen goin' mad might be a symptom rather than the cause."

"Finally, you're being clever. What else did you read then?"

"'S rumoured was her an' one of _us_. Dunno who. But there's no hard evidence one way or the other. Some claim the war machines they were able to build jus' before all the people got slaughtered were only possible because one of _us_ came up with 'em. But they were massive an' did unbelievable damage. They were called The Titans. Death engines. 'S why they hate us so much. Was more, but tha's as far as I got before deciding to come after sharpish. I dunno how dangerous these people're meant to be, but I'm sure I don't wanna cross 'em an' find out."

The Doctor was very still and seemed to be examining what she'd said very carefully. He didn't speak for a long time and when he finally found his voice it was strained and somehow disconsolate. "I believe I know who it may have been. When was it?"

"Bit over five centuries back from when we are."

He yanked at his fringe. "Yes… Come along, Tyler. Back to the TARDIS. Time to visit the inner cities, eh?" He grabbed her hand and began pulling her along behind him.

"Oi! Wha'bout Jack an' my brothers?"

"We'll collect them on the way, I'm sure."


	14. Escape and Capture

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor profit from the writing of this story.**

**Shenanigans with plot nuggets. Unapologetic, me. Shenanigans and the Doctor go hand in hand.**

**_Bohemian Rhapsody_ is, of course, by Queen - not me. Not that where I took it resembles or reflects the timeless perfection of that insane piece of genius. It's just what Torin Tyler would sing in this situation, and he's very sadly, quite tone deaf.**

**Lios Tyler, however, is not. Musically, he's more than a little genius with perfect pitch and incredible ability. So, it is a great tragedy in his life that his brother can't carry a tune in a bucket because Torin will insist upon serenading the world at any opportunity. **

**Queen is a favourite of the triplets because the first trip (joyride) their TARDIS ever took them on (and got them stuck - she really wasn't ready) was to Live Aid 1985. They went without permission, and Rose was livid when they finally made it back, but they met Freddie Mercury so it was worth the trouble.**

* * *

Lios woke alone, only in his pants, and with a massive headache. His head felt like a platoon of Judoon had been having a kickabout inside while he was unconscious. He wasn't exactly sure how he'd even gotten tied down, let alone remembered how he'd ended up on a stone slab in the dark room. The last he could actually recall had been the return walk by the stream outside town to find the Doctor. He'd eaten a bit more fruit and just worked up enough nerve to lean in and kiss Clytie- _Clytie!_

Where was she? Was she being held captive as well? He swallowed, in just her- no! He refused to allow himself to think in an ungentlemanly manner. If they had taken her dignity as well, he had absolutely no business trying to conjure mental images of it. He fervently hoped she was okay and had gotten away from whatever this mess was that he'd managed to land himself in. He _had_ to get out of this and find her! He had to make sure she was safe. If anything had happened to her because of him, how could he ever forgive himself?

Calm in the face of disaster was his forte. Lios was as stolid as they came when faced with the need for levelheadedness, so he did not allow the rising tide of panic and agitation to overwhelm him. Instead he took in a slow breath and willed his adrenal response to slow to a halt and assessed his plight fully.

First, he needed to puzzle out where he was.

He let himself relax further into a meditative state and absorb the room, from the climate and moisture content of the air to the exact number of lumens penetrating the near total darkness.

He made mental note of the directions from which each muffled noise was coming, and how far from familiar sounds that placed him.

He calculated his relative position in spacial relation to the nearest potential exiting point.

He separated the new smells, like wood, crumbling limestone, the eighteen types mould, and damp that was dripping from the east wall, from the familiar that he'd noted on the street, like yeast, flour, sugar, figs and dates, straw, roses, clay soil, and fresh water.

Lastly, he fully opened his time senses to pinpoint timelines and their number of owners above, and in all directions on his level of the structure. They were grouped, en-mass above him directly, and, in a smaller number, ninety paces to his left.

The minute details merged with the ambient, finally creating a clearer map in his mind of his location and predicament.

He had been unconscious for three hours and thirty-six minutes and three seconds. It had been six hours and thirteen minutes since they'd left the TARDIS, six hours and two minutes since he lost track of his brother and the Doctor, five hours and fifty-six minutes since he met Clytie, and it would be at least fifteen minutes - if he was very lucky and the rough, hempen rope had a weak point - before he could work a limb free from his bindings. And he would have rope burns everywhere. Nasty ones.

He wished for all the worlds in the many galaxies that he had their sonic. Why was Torin always the one in charge of it? He'd most certainly be asking the Doctor to make him one when he got out of this and back to the TARDIS. This was bollocks.

The ropes were already biting into his flesh as he wriggled as best he could in his prostrate, vulnerable position. He bit his lip and strained upward as he shifted side to side to fray the ropes. It stretched marginally, allowing him only a tiny amount of give with which to work. He let out the breath he'd been holding and collapsed back onto the cold slab for a moment. His skin was protesting hotly already, but he forced the feeling into a compartment in his brain which would keep it from interrupting his efforts.

The slight pause afforded him the time to record a few new observations he had either missed or that hadn't been there in his initial assessment.

Most notably, faint singing was beginning to trickle in from a nearby room.

Strange. He hadn't felt a timeline from that direction.

He concentrated on the voice.

Male. Young. Familiar.

Also utterly pissed.

_Torin._

He could properly hear him now and smirked. Even though Lios himself was practically naked and in more trouble than he cared to admit, he'd never let Torin live this one down.

_"Noo_ -_'scaape fr'mm reeealiteeeee. Ooopnyerrreeeeeyyyyeeeezzz lukuhptoooo thskiiieeeszz aaaannnn seeeeeeeeeeee! IIII'm jusssa poooor booooy! IIII neeeenooo syym-paaath-eeeeee."_

He thanked whomever or whatever watched over him and his family for this moment. Silently promising himself to project the performance to his brother and sister every chance he got, he pushed the distraction into another compartment alongside the burning pain, and went back to straining against his restraints while Torin obliviously crooned.

_ "Ummeeeeeezeeee comeeeeeeeeezeeeeee gooooo. Liiiiddle hiiiyyy liiiddleohhh!"_

Lios felt a capillary break in his right eye but strained harder.

_ "Dooozzen reeeeeaaallyyy maaaaaaaaddddeeerrr toooo meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"_

His respiratory bypass had kicked in and he felt a trickle of blood run down his arm.

_ "TooooooOOooooooo meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Evvvvvrybuddy!"_

He fell back again, panting. Every muscle burned with the exertion, but he forced himself to try again until his muscles gave out once more. So very little progress had been made, but he wouldn't despair.

_ "Aaannneeeeeeewaaayyy thaawiiinn blloooohhhzzz - no diddat biddawlreddy. OOIII! GODANNYMORRATHAFROOTAY? OOOOOOIIIII! OOOOOOOOOOOIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYUH!"_

Ignoring that his head and skin felt like they were on fire and that he could no longer keep it in its neat little box inside his brain, Lios pushed himself and the cords restraining him once again. This time he was rewarded with a small, gratifying snap that thankfully didn't come from anywhere inside his body. He allowed himself a small break as a reward. It would take longer than he'd hoped and he needed to pace himself.

_ "MMMMMMAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOoooooooOOOOOoooooooooh!"_

Footsteps hurriedly sounded in the hall on his left and moved toward him, then passed, and continued to where Torin was squawking.

_ "Fyyymm nnaawwbbaaack aaaggeeen - oh, ellodere! Finelee commuh join meyay? Dyou noduh one thagoes-"_

He heard scuffling sounds and grunts followed by a pained yelp then a thump and began to struggle even harder against his bonds.

He had to get to his brother. Nothing about the muffled altercation spelled good news, especially since Torin could annoy the hell out of anyone when he put his mind to it, and well, if Torin had been singing the Bohemian Rhapsody that badly for the last few hours, he honestly didn't know of what it would make _even him,_ for all his patience, capable. Then again, whenever Torin sang, he wished for deafness. At least these people didn't have to live with it.

Nothing for it. He'd have to dislocate one or both shoulders to create enough room to work an arm free. He steadily (and painfully) wriggled into a position which would give him the leverage he needed, ignoring the bleeding sores on his chest and arms as well as he could. He took a deep breath, counting down from five.

Before he made it to three, however, he heard the door to the chamber give a rusty creak, and the metal door opened slightly, allowing a shaft of light to penetrate like a knife through the thick darkness. The silhouetted figure in the doorway was tentatively inspecting the room.

He feigned unconsciousness. It would never do to have his captors get close enough to see him bloody and know what he was attempting an escape. The best he could hope for was to sate their curiosity enough that whoever it was would go away without moving farther into the room.

"Lios?"

_Torin! Oh, thank God! Brilliant!_ How had he gotten free? He had the cleverest family in all of existence, didn't he?

"Oi," he called as loudly as he dared, "you stupid-arsed, bloody _beautiful_ git. I've never been so happy to see your daft, tone-deaf, bampot face! But don't just gawk at me gob-struck! Shut up and come untie me!" he whispered fervently.

Torin swayed into the room and started tugging at the ropes binding his younger sibling. The welts and cuts stung and burned as Torin tugged but Lios bit his lip and swallowed the grunts of pain that threatened to escape him.

"Trusstup like a… er… what? Oh, yeah… yer tieddup!" He slurred into the silence with fumbling, leaden limbs and a goofy grin.

Li heard a whirring noise, then ropes finally lost all tension and he let out an involuntary moan of relief.

"Properly inebriated then? You weren't faking? How did that even happen?"

He gingerly touched the more painful areas on his shoulders. They were still oozing and needed attention, but he didn't feel like cannibalising his pants for bandages and running around starkers while they legged it. He noticed that Torin, too, was in only his pants. It presented problems. Well, _more_ problems, they had a fair few already, but flying under the radar was always more complicated without clothing, and doubly so when two were attempting.

And one of them was pissed. Totally pissed. Three sheets and all sense with it pissed.

"And how did you get out on your own?"

Torin grinned almost lazily and held up the sonic. "Hiddit - er - yeah - wheney firs' goddaolda me. Don' ask." His grin abruptly disappeared. "An' if you bloody tell _one word_ to th'Alpha 'bouddit, _I will destroy you._"

The last bit came out remarkably clear and Lios choked back his laugh and focused.

"How long do you think before the one you took out is missed?"

"Erm… what?"

"Never mind," he breathed impatiently, "we just need to get moving. They'll miss all of us sooner than later," he muttered sagely. "And we need to sober you up," he added almost as an afterthought.

Torin's altered state was hilarious, if complicating, and he was almost loath to see the spectacle end. Especially without his sister to witness enough to take the piss for a few centuries.

"'S tha frooot," Torin proclaimed in a loud voice which made Lios wince and throw cautionary gestures at the intoxicated Time Lord. Torin liked the way the last word rolled off his tongue and felt in his teeth. "Gesya righ' tosst."

He knocked away the hands trying to gain his attention and stumbled a few feet backward.

"Makes yer brain fuzzy an' yer eazyer to 'nvade. Thinkiss smade- grown fer tellpaths 'cifictally." He touched his head to indicate. "'S tha ony reason tha' scrubba wasn' careful. K'n metab'lise though."

He grinned and gave a wobbly bow, impressed with his own superior make-up.

"Juss needa onion few gherk'ns, maybe piggled onions'ood work too, a bitta beethroot an' a cuppla dates. Be me sortedenall."

"First," Lios redirected softly, "we need clothes. Anything we can find. Alpha would go mental if we ran around with our arms exposed like this."

Torin's glazed eyes cleared a moment as he gazed down thoughtfully at the Circular Gallifreyan that graced his right forearm in swirling gold.

Lios spoke again before he lost him to drunken ponderings of the great mysteries of life. "Maybe we should - er - go take the clothes off the one you… what did you do anyway?"

Torin shrugged and pointed at his forehead. "She's jus sleepin. Screamed realoud in'ere till she brokeabit 'n suhgessed she 'ava kip. Be outta while yet, I reckon."

"Oh, that is brilliant!" The Omega got to his feet and pulled his stumbling brother to the door. "Totally brilliant! Completely pissed and still dangerous. Utterly brilliant," he whispered with not a little pride.

The curly-haired brother grinned sheepishly and preened as they crept down the hallway to where he had been kept.

"Can't you do something about the light?"

"Erm… dunno… lemme feelawall…"

"No, you idiot - gimme the sonic! You can't have it back until after you've metabolised all that! _Honestly!_" He set the gadget and pointed it at the ceiling. "You've got the brains to figure out an escape, but turning on a light? Really."

The room lightened and they looked down at the unconscious, old woman.

"R'we reeeally takin' her dress'en, eh?"

"Got to. Can't run around in our pants! We'll be nabbed straight away! It's just until we find our clothes or something better. Reckon anyone here would recognise Gallifreyan?" he posed half-heartsedly, eyeing his Torin's right arm then glancing at his own left, knowing the answer already.

Torin shrugged and leaned against the door jamb to steady himself. "Sposets better not tarisk it."

"Who… who goes then?"

Torin blinked at him.

"I mean," he clarified, "who - er - takes her - er - c-clothes. Off. Who _goes?_"

The Beta stared blearily at his brother then started examining the wood grain of the door. "I putturout. Di'my bit. You can do thizbit."

Lios scowled but strode in and set about the task with no further hesitation. Once he had divested her of the garment he split it down the middle with a loud tear, giving each of them a sizable rectangle to tie about their shoulders like togas. Wrong culture, sure, but better than patterned cotton boxers and a prayer. Then he fished about in her wispy sashes for a couple that were not totally sheer and wrapped them like bandages around his and Torin's arms.

"Sorted then… Should we - er - I feel like an arse leaving her like this…"

"'Oo cares?! She tried ta break inta my'ed! Commonen! Erm… Wanna havapoke'boutabit firs? I mean, 'fore we go."

"I have to find Clytie, so yeah."

Torin cocked his head and his brother shrugged. Then Torin grinned slowly and he blushed furiously.

"Shut up."

"Yeah? She fit?"

The younger only punched the older on the arm in reply.

"Ooouuf! Prat! Less fine yer girl."

* * *

.

* * *

The Doctor and the Alpha were nearing the TARDIS and they'd still had no sign of Jack, the Beta, or the Omega. She was frustrated and he was... distracted. The Doctor loved a good mystery, and not even his concern for their elusive companions could sway him from solving the puzzle the society of ageless, golden females presented.

It was just passing midday, the air was stiflingly humid, and the streets were empty. Where it had been thronging only minutes before, the bazaar was now empty of even the women peddling their wares. It was eerie and silent.

Now completely exposed, and steadily becoming convinced that they were facing some actual danger, the Doctor kept them skulking in byways and skirting low to the ground around merchant stands. The last thing he wanted was to attract undue attention before he'd figured out a way to sort the mess on this planet. He would pilot the TARDIS directly into one of the inner cities, and maybe read the history text that the Alpha had mentioned.

He could fix it.

She could help.

They could get her brothers.

Then back to the TARDIS and on to anywhere else that wasn't here. He didn't want to stick around to clean it all up.

In a very pleasant, albeit unexpected, twist of fate, being in Selene Tyler's company for so long was proving to be more enjoyable than he'd imagined. Bratty and bossy behaviour had been abandoned in the face of the circumstances. She wasn't chatty, but they hadn't rowed and she was following all his directives like gospel. She was quick to silently point out oddities and he could appreciate her instinctual ability to melt into her surroundings. In essence, she was an asset as an adventuring companion, and he could appreciate her more as such. It made him want to... connect? a bit more so he searched for something relevant to say.

"You're little." He remarked lamely as the girl crouched easily in the shadows below him. "Small-ish. Not so much a hulking brute."

The Alpha scowled. "Cheers for noticin'."

Her skin was pricking with anxiety and she was on high alert. Her wonted manner may have been shoved aside for the sake of peace and necessity, but stupid comments would never curry favour with her. She brushed it off and tried to smile instead. It came out as a grimace that, nonetheless, encouraged the elder Time Lord.

He made sure the coast was clear and grabbed her hand and they ran across the small bridge over a sparkling canal. "Well," he insisted, "I mean, but you're always all imposing and gruff in layer after layer and then you cover them all in leather and eyebrows."

Leather and Eyebrows was perfect! He'd use that often.

"You - er - look okay like this." Was this even helping at all? He wasn't sure, but he wanted her to know she was acceptable however she chose to be. Other companions liked compliments, even if he was rubbish at dispensing them. "Not soft or feminine, I mean, and forget ever being called warm or cuddly. Girls like to hear all this nonsense, right?"

She rolled her eyes, shot her foot out fluidly to trip him and left him where he fell, a gangly pile of limbs and grunted curses.

"Blimey, you're still abusive. I'm _trying_ to be nice to you!" he accused in a furious whisper when he caught up to where she was crouching and scanning the street for the next best place to take cover.

"Doctor," she rubbed at her face and addressed him as if he were a hopeless case in need of serious guidance, "not all girls wanna be told they're pretty."

She turned to look at him and couldn't help chuckling at his bemused frustration. He _was_ trying, and she could give him that, even if he had no idea how to relate to her yet.

"Stop tryin' so hard. If it sounds like nonsense to you, I'll probably think it's completely ridiculous, alright?"

"Oh, well, I certainly wasn't telling you you're pretty."

"Good."

"Just littler than I thought."

"Great."

"Not so much heavy machinery and motor grease. With muscles. And hitting. And stone-throwing." Her expression clouded further with every word but he could see the twinkle of mirth underneath she was trying to cover. It encouraged him once again. "That's all a facade, isn't it?"

"Yeah," she responded in a matter-of-fact tone without the usual traces of anger or annoyance, "well, some people have a hard time takin' me seriously otherwise. You look hard right off an' you don't have to faff about provin' you're hard to any idiots that'd walk all over girls jus' 'cos they're girls." It was an old hurt, but one that continued to factor in nearly every society. The ability to prove herself without proving herself was a valuable ruse.

"Always with the shoulder and the chip and the scowling."

He playfully pushed her gold-painted shoulder, managing to unbalance himself more than the crouching young Time Lady.

"I find it hard to believe anyone could look at you and not believe you capable of obliterating them, whatever you're in."

_"You_ didn't," she challenged with a glance.

"Oh, I thought you'd try." He grinned. "I just knew I was harder, The Oncoming Storm and Destroyer of Worlds, me. You're just the Destroyer of All That is Fun and Happy."

"Oi! Always takin' the piss. Keep it up, pensioner. Let's put tha' theory to the test, then."

He grabbed her hand again and they ran to the next an alleyway.

"I hate long skirts," she whinged as a trailing bit got caught under her sandal and ripped away. "I can see why you can't be bothered."

She was starting to look a bit knackered. Her skirt was shredding everywhere from all the running and crouching, and the bit she'd wrapped on her arm no longer looked like decoration, instead resembling a ragged silver bandage. She'd bin it all when they reached home.

"With skirts?"

"No, Dum-dum, disguises. Didn't last half a day this."

She was quiet for a while as they slipped between the stands in the bazaar. Then, without preamble, she offered thoughtfully, "My last face was a bit more difficult to make convincin'. Easier to charm with though, tha' one. This body is better at stealth an' intimidation than charm. Funny tha', innit? They can be tha' different?"

He nodded, a bit gobsmacked that she was willingly divulging bits of her past. "Had a body that loved a good karate chop once. Well, I say karate, but it was Venusian Aikido. Wasn't half bad, and it came in handy. Be stupid to even try it now. Did you know you'd regenerate? That you could?"

"No." Her face clamped down tight like a steel trap again.

The Doctor nodded again, carefully keeping his face impassive, but let the implication of the statement go otherwise unremarked upon. "Were you okay?"

She didn't look at him, only stonily surveyed the scene.

When the words finally came, they seemed to spill out in an uncontrollable and uncharacteristic flood. "Not really. Got sick for 'bout a week an' was in a coma for the first three days of it. We'd no idea wha' to do, you know? My brothers were mad with worry an' the TARDIS was dyin'. They woke me up early an' we fixed it."

"Neural implosions?"

"Yeah," she nodded once and studied her silvery sandals, "among other things. Tea wasn't enough. Tha' was all we knew to do, yeah? But it didn't work." She fingered her sashes uncomfortably. "Needed to sleep an' to soak in lavender, eucalyptus leaves, an' orange zest." She half-smirked at the irony. "Brilliant, yeah? 'Cos it _would_ be the one fruit tha' won't grow on Garazone Prime. Planet full of orange people an' no citrus." She shook her head and chuckled.

He sighed as guilt tugged at his gut. Her respiratory system and bypass had failed as well then. Most likely total lung collapse of one or both lobes and a blocked laryngeal connection. It would've been excruciating.

"I'm sorry you were alone for that."

"I wasn't." She eyed him in earnest confusion. "My brothers were there for me."

"I mean, I'm sorry that all of you were alone for that."

"Oh." She closed herself off once again.

"Just, 'oh?'" He was disappointed with her regression. Perhaps he'd gone too far for her comfort, but all he'd offered was the truth and his empathy.

"Yes. Just, 'oh.' Look, bad time to have this chat, innit?" she huffed, reverting totally back to her impatient irascibility. She didn't want the Doctor's pity, and she didn't want to feel... whatever she was feeling.

"You started it."

"God, you're a child."

"Did you hear that?" He interrupted her sullen thoughts and perked at some sound she'd missed.

"Wha'?"

"Shut up."

She listened for a moment, trying to focus on the one sense, then heard the melodious chorus of voices the Doctor had caught.

"Wha'…? What're they doin' then, d'you think?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes but didn't answer. He was weighing his options.

He took in the temple across from where they were skulking.

He looked at the young woman posing as an Olympian.

He took in her dishevelled appearance and made a decision.

She wasn't going to like it, but they needed into the inner cities, and what better way than a teleport? It meant he was assured he wouldn't miss the landing - though he'd never admit to anyone, he often worried about such things as his driving being anything but impeccable - and he could have a good, first-hand look at exactly what might've happened to Torin and Lios. And _if_ her brothers had been sent in already, it was his best chance at finding them quickly. She could get herself back to the TARDIS, he was almost positive.

The mass of women approaching was growing in volume though they were still out of sight.

"Selene, I need you to trust me and do exactly as I say. Can you do that?"

"Oi! Don't call me tha'," she rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You're getting yourself caught."

She'd known by the look on his face and the way he'd studied her what his intentions would be. Well, bully for him if that's what he wanted, so long as he came back with those they were looking for.

He nodded.

"Yeah, I can. Get my boys back. _I mean it._ I'll infiltrate here then."

"Didn't even have to ask you." He beamed. "Get back to the TARDIS as soon as you can."

"Then wha?"

"What do you mean 'then wha'?'"

"_Then wha-t?_"

"_Then_ don't wander off! Stay there until I come back!"

"You're mental. Tha's never happenin'." She folded her arms and planted her feet petulantly.

"Look," he almost pleaded in exasperation and weariness. _Children! Honestly!_ "I can't be running around after you lot all the time! Someone has to stay where I can find them again! It's like herding cats with you three!"

"Four," she corrected, "Jack's runnin' about too. But shut up! No! I will not stay in the TARDIS. I'll find a way in after you!"

"Women aren't allowed, Selene!"

"Shut up callin' me tha'! An' when has somethin' like tha' ever stopped _you,_ eh?"

"Pay attention, Tyler, here they come!" He pulled on her hand and dragged her to the marble and gold stairs leading to the temple. "Look upset!"

"Pfft. Not much of a stretch, innit?"

"Just yell and shout at me a lot! Should be second nature! When you're all Leather and Eyebrows you're shouting at everyone constantly! I think I'm going to make it a rule that you have to be in skirts all the time if it cows you this much!"

"BLOODY TOSSER! WHY D'YOU HAVE TO BE A BLEEDIN' ARSE ALL THE TIME, EH? LET GO OF ME! GOD! YOU'RE THE WORST! This okay then? An' _leather and eyebrows?_ Who're you to-"

"Perfect," he cut in. "Maybe you should fall or something."

"Wha'? Just fall?" She shot him an incredulous look. "No, no, _push_ me. Make it believable, at least!"

He half-heartsedly pushed one shoulder and she launched herself to the ground with a piercing shriek, letting herself roll down a few stairs. He barely suppressed a grin at the theatrics. She too was having a hard time keeping a straight face, and he didn't dare look her in the eyes for fear that they'd both break.

The crowd was nearly upon them, each woman carrying an amphora or a basket of golden fruit. The women in the front had stopped their singing and were touching and whispering to each other.

"Doctor, you should yell back!" she hissed up at him from her prone position. "HOW DARE YOU PUT YOUR HANDS ON ME AN' HURT ME! YOU HORRID, _HORRID_ MAN!"

"What am I supposed to say?"

"_You_ shout at _me_ all the time too! Think of somethin' or _make it up!_ NO! NO! JUST STAY AWAY FROM ME NOW! DON'T YOU TRY TO HURT ME AGAIN!"

"YOU'RE A SNEAKY LITTLE TERROR AND YOU ORDER EVERYONE ABOUT! COME NEAR ME AGAIN AND YOU'LL GET WORSE!"

She started to laugh then, it was too much, and she whimpered to cover it, but the fit of mirth quickly got out of hand and she couldn't continue shouting so she feigned tears and kept her head in her arms until they were surrounded.

The Doctor rounded on the mob and feigned surprise, jumping a little as he startled and gasped.

"Oh, hello, ladies! Why so cross?" The Doctor smiled cheekily.

* * *

.

* * *

The Doctor was shoved into a small, blank room, though why they had to _shove_ was beyond him, he'd gone along willingly enough to be suspicious in his opinion. And why wouldn't he? They were sending him, if he was right - and he very nearly always was - to the Capitol City of Apollo Zephyrus. The very city from which he'd made his last escape when he'd been there. It was a funny old life. Good though, that. He wouldn't have to get his bearings much - so long as it hadn't drastically changed in a few hundred years. But then, Olympians didn't really change much, and it certainly took a very long time, it was one of the occupational hazards of being extremely long-lived - though of course, they were living in a gender segregated society currently, and that really _was_ a big - monumental even - change, and not at all what one would have predicted with their history before whatever went wrong - er - went wrong. The point was that he was relatively certain, sort of, that he'd at least have an idea of the place.

He felt the air charge and prickle at his skin and knew they'd started up the teleport.

_ Geronimo!_

He materialised in a similar blank, white room and waited as patiently as the Doctor ever could for guards to come fetch him.

That meant he paced and fidgeted for seven minutes and eighteen seconds, with not even a hint of sound emergent, before deciding to take it upon himself to make his presence known.

He grinned and pulled out his sonic. He unlocked the door easily and stepped out with confidence. If he pretended he wasn't a prisoner, maybe no one would question it.

It was just an empty, plain marble corridor with another bronze door at the end. That door was unlocked, and as he pulled it open, he pulled out his psychic paper just in case.

However, he wasn't prepared for what lay beyond.

The city was in ruins. Marble lay chunked and strewn about everywhere in sizes ranging from that of a fist to entire columns which looked like they'd been thrown like so many useless sticks. Gold ornamentation was torn and blackened or melted but in peculiar patterns. Cut by lasers rather than burned in a large-scale fire or explosion. Everything was overgrown with creeping ivy and mouldering as if the once war-zone had been abandoned for centuries.

And abandoned was the magic word, wasn't it?

Where were the men? What had happened here? Why was he transported to an empty ruin? Didn't the women know that this inner city was destroyed and empty? And what were those vibrations he was feeling?

He bent, took out his sonic again and was about to scan a marble block to his right when he heard echoing footsteps moving quickly in his direction. He looked up and saw an Olympian male in a short, red Chiton hurtling toward him at break-neck speed.

"Doc!" the man yelled. "Run!"

"Harkness?" _How in the devil?-_ It was then that the Doctor noticed what was chasing Jack.

And, oh, it was not good. Absolutely gorgeous and utterly incredible. But not good.

Death engines, the Alpha had said. The Titans. This was a Titan.


	15. Evasion

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who, nor do I profit from the writing of this story.**

**Mea Maxima Culpa for being slow with this update, but it's über long, so that's my Hail Mary. We'll finish on Olympia in the next chapter! Mostly. Maybe.  
**

**Not really, no.**

**This chapter has undergone intense edits. It hasn't changed the overall direction of anything, but it is much, much better as a story arc as a result, and also, it gels with the rest much more. I'm much happier. I just used much 4 times. Laziness, but it's an author's note! I have an excuse.**

**Right, babbling.**

* * *

"Are you injured, Lady?" asked an Olympian woman with long, strawberry-coloured hair and emerald eyes. Her voice was soft and melodious as she reached out and placed a hand on the Alpha's shoulder.

The Alpha felt a nudge at the edge of her consciousness and jerked away from the contact. What the hell was wrong with these people that they so freely entered the mind of one another? Hadn't they ever heard of privacy? There were bloody _rules!_ You had to ask for permission! She'd never encountered another telepathic species that behaved so wantonly with everyone and everything! Damned uncivilised if you asked her.

"No!" She tried to shrug it off and smile. "No, jus' shaken up a bit, y'know? Thanks - er - for gettin' rid of him. I'm not from around - er - this city, so could you tell me where you're goin'?" She schooled her features into a mask of sincere curiosity as she addressed the woman speaking to her.

"Surely you have midday devotions in…? From which city did you mention travelling?" The Olympian cocked her head and offered a hand to help her to her feet.

She didn't take it - trusting the touch about half as far as she could throw the woman - stood on her own, and looked around at the group still surrounding her.

The majority of the crowd had entered the temple, save the four who had hauled the Doctor away, but thirteen remained behind.

Seemed like too many.

Their charade must not have been very convincing. She would need to do some serious thinking on her feet if they were going to trust her enough to talk and not just arrest her too. She already had the disadvantage of the closed telepathic link. That would likely seem a bit dodgy if they were so keen with each other all the time.

"Oh, right, yeah," she hedged distractedly, "we do ours differently... Let's- let's go in, shall we?"

"What do you call yourself, Lady?"

A concession would have to be made if she was going to make any headway.

Sighing involuntarily, she carefully opened her mind a very controlled fraction and touched the woman addressing her to demonstrate the truth of her words. "Selene. An' yours?"

The woman's suspicious demeanour softened and took on an unsettling, reverent quality, "Lady Selene Luminous, I am Nymph Clytie. It is an honour to have you among us. We have been waiting."

"Right..."

Probably not good.

"'Course you have..." she muttered.

Did they think she was the moon goddess - or Titan...Titaness? - or - er - whatever the moon was to the Greeks? She really wished she'd paid more attention to the Earth mythology, but with so many conflicting stories and no opportunity as yet to go and see it for herself, she was floundering. She'd just have to fake it. It would help if they trusted her, but she had a feeling she wasn't going to pull that one off for long.

She hated the sudden feeling of wishing the Doctor were back to help her through this... mess... even if he'd just left her to it. She didn't care for being out of control of the situation when she'd said she could handle it.

"Er- oh, well, lovely," she smiled and tried to recover her composure and self-confidence. "I'm - er - here..."

Not so smooth.

"Obviously..."

Right. It didn't count as utterly failing if they continued looking at you like you hung the moon, did it?

...Which... maybe they thought you did?

"Erm... Devotions then?"

She made to move through the ring of golden, silk-swathed women, but they only smiled and barred her exit.

"I believe something far more important awaits you. We should not linger. We have waited so very long for your return."

_Ye-p. Bad._

"Have you now? Don't actually remember ever bein' here before, but you know," she waffled, her adrenal response kicking in and running for her life seeming like a good option if it continued much further, "such a long life an' all, memory's goin' a bit. What've you been waitin' on again? There a-a moon ceremony soon?"

"If you will, yes. Please follow me. The Others will be waiting as well."

_ Worse._

"The others?"

Fear and the beginnings of anger coursed through two fluttering hearts.

"Yes, with the lesser wolves."

_"Wolves?"_

"The others of your kind."

_Oh, sod it all._

"Right." Fully angry and ready for a fight instead of flight, she challenged the ginger Nymph with all the menace of a cornered animal, "You will be givin' them back. I do not ask twice. When did you know then?"

Nymph Clytie smiled sweetly, undaunted by the Alpha's posturing. "Perhaps ruses are better suited to lesser races," she returned with a small bow. "We have seen into the youngest wolf, and your name is known to me. I thank you for relinquishing pretenses. Will you now follow us please?"

Better bloody aliases. When on a planet of telepaths, one _must_ use better aliases. Perhaps 'John Smith' wasn't daft after all. 'Sally Woolfe' would've only exposed her as well.

Maybe, and she'd be buggered before she admitted it aloud, she was coming to understand what Jack had said about her compulsive planning. What she needed right at that moment was not a plan but the ability to improvise. She felt like a spectacular idiot.

And she was supposed to be the responsible one!

How the hell was she going to get them all out of this in one piece?

They either knew what she was, or thought she was something weird, and neither option gave her a load of confidence.

She shifted from foot to foot and huffed indecisively.

She was physically smaller than the Olympian women. Not much. But enough to make all the difference. They ranged from near about her height, to just over two metres, and though lean, they were muscular and athletic, each carrying at least two stone on her skinny, adolescent-boy frame. She'd never overpower them, even if she went for the element of surprise. There were too many, all intent on watching her every move.

She'd just have to suck it and see what they wanted, then give them the slip when she could.

At least she now had an idea what happened to her brothers.

_ And it wasn't chatting up girls._ _Prat, _she thought, smug in the knowledge that, though they were getting cozy with the Doctor, she still knew them best.

"Yeah," she managed, sensibly nodding to the ginger woman with the jewel-bright eyes, "lead on."

The ladies maintained their perimeter around her as they led her through the temple where the rest of the townspeople went about their devotions - which seemed to consist of a lot of drinking the amber liquid the Doctor had called Ambrosia, and tapping into a unified consciousness. They undulated to an unheard music and seemed to flit around the temple making preparations with offerings and rose garlands.

The Alpha was nearly bowled over by the force of the assault on her mind. It wasn't malicious, only inviting and intoxicating in its seductiveness - and terribly, terribly overwhelming...

...and also not getting inside, bollocks to that. She knew how easily a group of people could be tricked or influenced act in atrocious ways if they engaged in this kind of activity - especially with regularity. The spectacle seriously alarmed her.

She was first led into an ante chamber where shimmering white and gold robes were laid on a small, marble altar. The women began tugging at her tattered, blue ones and Nymph Clytie came forward with a basin of rose-scented water and a sea sponge.

"Oi!" She slapped at their hands and clutched at her rags. "No! No, no, no. None of tha'. Not necessary. _Really._ Please, jus' leave me be."

She backed away into the waiting hands of two Olympians behind her.

"The Wolf Goddess has touched you, yet your glory is covered," Clytie cajoled. "We must remedy this."

_Oh, bloody hell!_

Disguise was just stupid, she decided. The Doctor never bothered himself, so why did she think it was so important? She'd still ended up in trouble! She'd never do it again. Completely mental to trust paint and a few wisps of cloth. She yearned with both her hearts for her leather jacket.

"No!" she insisted vehemently as if it would do any good. "You don't understand, it's all covered for a reason!"

They just stared at her silently with expectant eyes and eerily placid smiles.

She growled and scrubbed her face with her hands. "Look, I'm not happy 'bout it- in fact, I'd love to show you jus' wha' I think of your mentally intrusive behaviour with more'n words- but you were in my brother's head, yeah? I _know_ you know wha' I am. Oi! Back off, Red!" She shoved once more at the green-eyed Nymph and clutched at her ragged robe. _"You_ _know_ tha' I know you lot don't care for Time Lords. _I_ know tha'_ you_ know tha' I'm not a normal one either. An' _you_ know tha' _I_ know tha' _you_ know enough to know tha' this could be _very bad_ for me, so please, can we jus' skip it?"

Again the tugging began and she had to duck under many limbs to back herself into a clearing.

"Wait! Jus' wait! I'm willin' to help your people, yeah? But I _need to stay bloody covered_ until I can get home an' put my regular clothes back on!"

"Lady, you claim to be a Lord of Time, but you are clearly our goddess returned to us!" Clytie admonished in a silky voice. "The Lords of Time do not burn as you do, are not touched by celestial prophesy! I was under the assumption we had dispensed with pretense."

The Alpha was thunderstruck. She had no idea what to say to get disabuse them of such gross notions. She stood motionless for a few moments with her mouth hanging open like a fish while they closed in, before collecting her wits. "Look, tha's, er... brilliant an' all, but 's definitely not me. I _am_ a Time Lady, an' I can't do... whatever it is you're expectin'," she spluttered. "I don't- I'm _not_ a god! 'S no burnin' in me. I'm not- I mean you don't really believe in magic or divine intervention, do you? Tha's rubbish! Really, I gotta get my brothers an' my friends an' we'll jus' go. We'll go! We don't belong here, an'... an' I'm sorry, but... but I can't help you like tha'."

Their expressions tore at her heart but she didn't know how else to get them to let her go without a fuss.

Then, almost as if some force simultaneously grabbed hold of each of them and shook them loose of their senses, their faces slackened and the hands on her tightened. They looked at her once again like she was the hope for their futures and Clytie moved in closer with glazed eyes and stroked her face with a rapt expression.

"Lady Selene Luminous, why would you ever leave us again?" The green-eyed woman whispered. "Your coming has been foretold, you must not leave us."

_ Fantastic._

* * *

.

* * *

For a Death Engine, it was elegant.

Beautiful.

An incredibly deadly piece of artwork.

Humanoid in shape - or rather Olympian in shape - it stood five metres in height, and though it had legs, it didn't walk. It flew through the air causing a vibrating hum that reverberated through the marble of the city as it approached. The blue fire propelling it trailed in its wake, catching on the overgrowth, cutting off any escape in that area, and, once again, burning the still-proud ruins of Olympia. Its body was entirely shining gold in colour, and it was faceless. Instead of a visage it had a scanner which alternated between glowing screen and weapon functions. It was perfectly sculpted into the Olympic ideal of bodily perfection, each part made of segmented metal bands which appeared to reform into any multitude weapons with ease...

...as one of the arms was doing just then.

The Doctor aimed his sonic at the Titan and pushed the button at the bottom. It turned its massive head in his direction and changed its trajectory from Harkness to where he was standing, but nothing else happened.

Well, one never knows unless one tries, does one?

Disappointed it hadn't fallen apart or exploded, but not an idiot, he tore after Jack.

Just in time too, the ground behind him exploded and heat bathed his back as he ran. The shock wave nearly sent him sprawling, but he kept his footing and sprinted faster, his hearts threatening to escape through his throat with little encouragement.

He glanced over his shoulder and saw the Titan's arm was now a golden cannon, and its targeting scanner had a firm lock on him. Its head followed his every movement.

This was really, very, extremely bad in the absolutely not good sense.

Maybe he just needed to find a different setting on the sonic? After all, it wasn't made of wood. If only he knew the alloy which made up the blasted thing! If only he had half a second to think!

He made a sharp turn to the left and the ground where he'd been exploded into hell-fire once again.

Time! He just needed a little time!

A large chunk of debris struck the back of his left shoulder and he winced as he felt warm blood soaking through his shirt and trickling down his back under his clothing.

Hiding then! Hiding was good. Hiding could buy him the much-needed time! Less running in plain view and more hiding was definitely the ticket.

"Jack!" he screamed as he scanned the devastated scene for any place offering some semblance of shelter.

Jack was twenty metres ahead of him, all arse and elbows.

He'd have to get to him first. He wasn't sure if even Fixed Point Jack Harkness could come back from being blown into a million bits, and had no intention of putting it to the test. Jack had too much to do in his own future and the Doctor's past.

Supremely stupid idea bringing him along, really. He'd really, absolutely have to learn to firmly say "no" to Rose-Tyler-eyes- especially as they didn't even belong to the right Tyler woman!

With no small amount of effort - he'd call it Titanic, but now wasn't the time for puns - the Doctor closed the distance separating them, grabbed Jack's arm, and pulled him down a crumbling alley as another explosion decimated the last wall of a building which had been precariously standing at an angle beside them.

They ducked down low and crawled to the end of the stone alleyway where the Doctor had seen their only hope of escape.

He ripped up the corroded, brass sewer grating and threw himself down into the hole. Jack fell on top of him a moment later. They suffered through a pregnant pause as the vibrations increased to the point of pain in their heads.

The Titan seemed to be hovering just above them and scanning for signs of life.

Jack frantically yanked on the Doctors arm to get him moving - which was difficult as the pressure in his cranium was making it difficult to stand, let alone think - and they ran farther down the tunnel as fast as they could manage. Not a half a minute later the area behind them caved in with burning bits of street and rubble before the thunderous vibrations moved off.

They both gave mewling sounds of relief at the passing of the danger and pain.

"So..." the Doctor grinned as Jack panted. "That was aerobic."

"What the hell was that thing?" Jack huffed. Sweat glistened on every visible portion of his skin. The gold paint was running, making him look like he was melting.

"A Titan," he replied in his professorial manner, grateful for his superior body's ability to cope with and recover from exertion better than Jack's knackered lungs. "Big weaponish thingy bent on killing anything vaguely humanoid- or, rather, Olympian actually, but you must have worked that one out on your own. If not, Jack, I-"

"Is it what destroyed everything?"

"That's the likeliest answer, yes."

He paused. "Are there more?"

"You tell me," the Doctor retorted, unimpressed. "It was chasing you."

Jack bent over double with his hands on his knees and his bum resting against the wall, then stood and leaned his head back against the cool stone and closed his eyes. The chase had been much longer for him and his heart was still racing.

"I only found the one," he offered after he had sufficiently caught his breath. "I was exploring when I stumbled onto it, sitting dusty and lifeless, in a yard full of broken ships. I thought it was a statue so I climbed up on it to have a better look. I guess that wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done."

"Well, it's answered some questions, honestly," the Doctor returned, benevolently. "And we had a good run! Love a good run. Also, we're not dead. Always like that, the not-dying part. All in all, not too shabby, I'd say!"

Jack grinned at the old man's enthusiasm for danger and nodded. It was true that nothing compared to making it out of mortal peril alive.

Not that he would necessarily _stay_ dead, but dying was usually less than pleasant in the best of circumstances.

"How'd you get here then?"

"Got arrested," he shrugged as though the question was ridiculous. "You?"

"Same," the Doctor nodded. "On purpose, of course. I certainly wasn't doing, well, whatever _you_ were doing."

"Mm, on purpose. Sure."

"What? I did!"

Jack put his hands up in a placating gesture. "Whatever makes you feel better about your life, Doc. Don't let me rain on your parade."

"I'll have you know, your new best mate was in on the whole thing! She even-"

"Selene's okay?"

"She's better than 'okay,'" the Doctor looked at Jack sideways, he still didn't like how chummy the two had become, in fact, he was considering a 'hands off the brunette' rule, though with an entirely different internal motivation from 'hands off the blonde,' "she's playing the spy."

"So, she'll be arrested and sent this way soon for slapping some poor woman."

"Rassilon, I hope she has more sense than that."

"It was a close call a few times on our way in," Jack chuckled, "she has less patience for people than you when we first met. Where do you think the Titan went?" Jack mused. He hoped that it would assume it had killed them and just shut down again.

"Probably back to where you found it, but we can't risk it leaving the city now it's awake. We've got to shut it down, or it could slaughter the women too."

The Doctor was pacing with a mad gleam in his eyes. Thrill and adrenaline were coursing through him, and his senses were primed for more action.

"Huh?" Jack cocked his head. "The women too? What do you mean 'too?'"

"All the male Olympians were killed by those things. I'm assuming we're dealing with more than one. Would take a fair few to wipe out a population the size of-"

"_All_ the men on the _planet_, or just this city?" he gaped in abject horror.

The Doctor shook his head and frowned. "I'm not sure yet. We should try teleporting into some of the other inner cities to check after we've dealt with the Titans here. I'm quite good with teleports, I'm sure I can get us wherever we need."

"As long as you're better with them than landing the TARDIS."

"Oi!"

Jack grinned then grew serious again, "So, this sewer probably runs all through the city, we just need to find our bearings and I haven't the foggiest clue about this place."

"Luckily, I have. I've even used this very sewer system to escape once." The Doctor preened, then added as an afterthought, "Much cleaner now."

"Thank God for small favours," Jack said fervently. As far as sewer escapes went, this got top marks for cleanliness in his opinion, and he'd made a fair few in his lifetime. Though, being an abandoned city probably had something to do with that.

"How far away was the landing yard?"

"I'm guessing two miles east of here, hard to say with the path I had to take through the rubble. Didn't really have time to make note of distance and landmarks, you know."

"Right..."

The Doctor didn't seem impressed by the captain's lack of observational skills. Clearly he was abusing humans as a species in his thoughts, even if he didn't voice it to Jack... this time.

"Okay. That puts us… Yep."

He scanned the walls with the sonic and checked the results, and pushed back his fringe.

"City centre should be about eighteen kilometres to the west of us, and so long as it's standing, the mainframe computers will be in the judicial building there. Come along."

He made to go in the direction they'd come.

"Right. Well, not that way."

"Not inspiring confidence here, Doc."

"Shut up. We just have to backtrack a bit what with the caving in and all."

"Uh-huh. Lets go stop a Titan, shall we?"

* * *

.

* * *

Torin was rummaging through the cupboards in the temple above the basement where they'd been held. Beetroot was apparently not something used on this planet and he was searching for an acceptable alternative. He needed it to be similarly sweet and alkaline.

Lios kept his stoic vigil, blocking the door from opening while his brother tried different foods to metabolise the toxins from the inebriating fruit. Though his face betrayed little of the tumult within, he was of the opinion Torin was being too picky and wasting time. He needed to find Clytie before anything happened to her. They needed to get to the Doctor. Nothing was right on this world, and the Doctor would know what to do.

"Think the Alpha's come looking yet?" he asked as his thoughts strayed to how easily Selene would've gotten Torin's arse in gear were she the one having to keep watch while their brother faffed about in the larder. Probably with threats of using his empty head for target practise.

They had been gone a long time and it was unlikely such an extended absence would go unnoticed, even while she was avoiding the Doctor. He didn't like to think about her reaction to the mess they'd landed themselves in, but he cherished a small hope that she might be out there helping sort it and coming to get them.

...He also wondered how she'd like Clytie...

...She couldn't dislike her, right? Although, she wouldn't be happy with the situation and it might muck up her attitude towards Clytie and her people as a rule... He still wanted them to meet and get on...

...but mostly he wanted his big sister to help them escape.

Torin shrugged indifferently.

Despite their circumstances, he was still a bit tossed and thoroughly enjoying himself. The Alpha would only bring him down.

He put a piece of a strange blue-green vegetable in his mouth, chewed experimentally, then spit it out vehemently.

"Don' see whyshe'doo. Hasn' commoutin dayz."

"She is getting a bit out of hand, isn't she?" He cringed.

Lios hated that Selene had withdrawn so much. She had lost anything gentle she'd had in her first body with her regeneration, but his beloved sister had still been accessible emotionally - to him... until they'd left in the TARDIS with the Doctor.

Now, all his pleas and admonishment fell upon deaf ears.

She didn't ask for advice from anyone but Jack - that hurt - and he hadn't been able to even engage her in a debate since he'd persuaded her to ask the Doctor to let Harkness come along. He hadn't foreseen how attached she'd become to the captain when he suggested his immortality might allow them to get closer to their ultimate goals.

Not that he minded Jack's influence - he didn't... ish... even thought it was more than a little bit good for her to be talking candidly with someone who hadn't been a part of their immediate circle - it just rankled that she was shutting her family out.

She'd _promised_ him that she would talk to the Doctor and he'd believed her- had been quite relieved at that, actually. He was so tired of the three of them being alone in all this. Instead, she poured her heart out to the immortal man and continued evading the one with the most applicable experience and wisdom.

After they had awoken from their encounter with the Untempered Schism, their lives had never been easy or carefree. Their mother had been terrified when she beheld her altered sons and daughter, and their father was... gone. Their mum couldn't read the symbols at all, and his and Torin's grip on Gallifreyan was tenuous at best. Selene had taken to the language a bit better, but was by no means a master, so they'd spent countless days mapping the markings all on paper. They were incredibly difficult to decipher. The tiniest golden dot or line could make a word something else entirely.

As far as they could tell, they were words of binding. And yet they weren't. When you arranged and read them another way, they were words of death. Rearranged again, they were of life. Rearranged still - and, most often when they'd done it, this was their success - it was all total, Carrollian gibberish. Where he and Torin had joined hands with Selene, they each bore marks on their forearms. These were identical and more easily translated. They read: _I am the Bad Wolf. I create Myself._

Mum had been beside herself and Selene fought to stop letting her read the translations she slaved over day in and day out.

Still, the only one who could definitively make sense of it all was the Doctor.

And she'd _promised._

And she didn't.

And she wouldn't talk about it! She just kept saying, "soon," and shutting him down. It was making him desperate. His only sister's life might depend on letting the man she had so obstinately decided to dislike help them.

More than that! They could change the fate of an entire people - and they would try no matter the cost, he knew - he just needed her to stop being so determined to do it alone!

Torin had no such feelings, however. He trusted the Alpha's judgement implicitly on the big stuff - she had never given him reason not to do - and if she thought the time was wrong, it was. The Doctor was a good man, and he certainly liked and trusted him already - why wouldn't he? - but she was never wrong about these things. Her time sense was strongest, and she knew these things intuitively.

It wasn't that he didn't care. He cared more than he'd ever let on, but having never been the brother turned to for advice, never looked to to keep situations from spiralling out of control, and never being asked to contribute to plans had taught him to trust himself less than others. He therefore gave his support in more tangible ways. He followed orders. He kept the baby alive. He kept the Doctor out.

He squashed his rebelliousness...

...mostly...

Torin was also a firm believer in creating destiny. His sister would win and they would keep the power bound like they had seen when they looked into the Schism, and that was it.

They had seen other outcomes, and the resulting consequences to all of existence, but they weren't the strongest time-threads. As long as they fought for the right outcome, and made sound choices, they would have it.

He wouldn't _let_ it happen any other way. It was that black and white.

It really didn't occur to him that she may be letting emotions cloud her judgement, so every time Lios argued with him that they should go to the Doctor without her, he dismissed it out of hand.

"Aha!" he cried and pulled out a veined, yellow borble root with the same chemical balance as beetroot.

He immediately began gnawing on it and felt the toxins massing together in his gut. He gave a great belch and expelled them successfully in a great gaseous cloud.

"Blimey, that's better! I can properly talk again!"

Lios rolled his eyes. That was _wizard_. Just what they needed. Torin's gob in top form.

"A proper copper coffee pot." Torin bounced happily on his heels while he rolled the words around in his mouth. "The sixth sitting sheet slitter slit six sheets. Irish Wristwatch, Swiss Wristwatch. Pad kid poured curd pulled cold. Peggy Babcock."

"What?" Lios rolled his eyes in a manner worthy of his sister. "You're daft. You haven't metabolised or you've gone nutter."

"Tongue twisters!"

"_Peggy Babcock?_"

"Shut up! It's hard to say!"

"It isn't!"

"You're wasting time." Torin deflected impatiently, which was a bit rich. "Shouldn't we be looking for your bird?"

"Oi!" The younger man blushed and ducked his head to hide it, suddenly finding his shoeless toes very interesting. "She isn't _my_ bird," he muttered. "And don't call her that! She's not some scrubber that I met down at the pub!"

Torin rolled his eyes and pushed past Lios into the corridor. "Isolate her timeline, would you? I don't fancy going room to room."

Lios regarded his brother with surprise. "Yeah, why didn't I think of that?"

"'Cos you're an idiot," Torin replied lovingly with an affectionate shove.

"Yeah, but… oh, never mind!"

He closed his eyes and focused on the signature he had noted when he'd first met Clytie….

She was... here! On the very same level of- wherever they were and in a room with twelve - no, thirteen others. That last timeline was flickering in and out a bit, which was weird to be honest, but he let it go. He did still have a massive headache after all.

"I know where she is." He pointed to their left and they set off. "Wait a tick! They're on the move!"

The mass of shimmering timelines and the flickering one left whatever room they were in and were moving their direction.

Right, they should hide, or at least be less conspicuous. He shared what he had picked up with his brother through their open connection and they ducked through a nearby door.

After a few minutes a large group of the golden women seemed to float gracefully past, and Clytie led their number in her diaphanous, draping cloths and elegantly plaited coif.

Lios didn't know what to make of it. He felt as if someone had hit him in the gut - although that analogy was lacking because he had a respiratory bypass, and a blow to the abdomen would be painful, but wouldn't wind him, and, oh, he was definitely experiencing a distinct lack of oxygen.

Was she not a prisoner too? Was she... Was she responsible for his imprisonment?

He felt sick.

Was he so distracted by a soft voice and pretty face that he'd thrown all his better judgement out a window? What was going on?

Torin touched his arm and sent him a wave of concern. His brother's hearts-break was evident, and he didn't want to be insensitive... They could play, but when it came to it, he'd never want him to be so hurt.

_ That's her in front_, Lios sent back.

Torin didn't respond. He just let his jaw hang open as he stared at the girl in the centre of the group.

A girl wearing creamy white silks, with cropped, black hair, and pale, ivory skin covered in gold Circular Gallifreyan trailing up her arms to her neck and all across her chest. All thoughts of being sensitive went flying out of his head as protective anger boiled up within him.

Lios was still staring at Clytie as the women continued to move away from them when Torin kicked him sharply.

He tore his eyes away from the beautiful girl - who wasn't a prisoner in this place where he'd been held captive, and who really didn't need his rescue... or want his hearts - and glared at his git of a brother.

Torin ignored the blond man's wrath and pointed at the Alpha. Lios made a choked sound and blanched.

_ Your bird seems to be in charge._

Lios heaved a sigh, and his face went stony.

Well, he'd give her a chance to defend herself, but this really didn't look good, did it? And had he the choice between a pretty girl and his blood, blood won out every time.

He allowed the sick, wounded feeling to fall away and he focused on his righteous anger.

Torin touched his shoulder gently in consolation, careful not to put pressure on the weeping sores that had soaked through the tattered linen rectangle Lios was wearing.

_ Alpha_, he reminded.

_ Let's go_, was all Lios managed and they slipped back out and silently stole after them.

* * *

.

* * *

The Doctor poked his head up every so often to covertly check their location, and it only took them an hour and twenty-three minutes to reach the city's centre.

Jack gave him a leg up through the sewer grate after offering to support his bum instead and being refused. The Doctor then heaved Jack up by the arms and they began looking for the right- well... set of ruins, to be honest.

Nothing was whole anywhere, and the Doctor just hoped they would be able to amass enough working computer parts that he could cobble something together to suit their purposes.

He'd have a whole plan after he'd seen what was available.

At the moment, it was an almost-plan... sort of the start of one- the plannings of a plan! Which, if one thought optimistically, was as good as half a plan, and half a plan was better than no plan.

Although, half a plan wasn't technically a plan.

Technically, it was still no plan.

A non-plan.

So, yes, he had no plan. Just an idea. Ideas were good! And he'd worked with less.

Not often.

Jack didn't need to know that though.

They walked silently, staying close to cover as often as possible, and keeping a wary ear and eye out for any sign of the Titan. They rounded a corner and were astonished to find the building they were looking for was surprisingly whole. A few columns missing from the front and a couple of holes in the roof, but the building itself was sound.

They stole their way to it and paused before the heavy bronze doors. They would make one hell of a noise.

"Maybe we should try around back?" Jack whispered cautiously.

The Doctor shook his head. Wouldn't be a back entrance on a building like this. One way in, one way out for security.

Instead of sharing his thoughts with his companion, he pulled out his sonic and aimed it at each of the hinges to remove any corrosion and minimise the sound.

They heaved at the door on the right and it swung open heavily, reverberating in every direction with the sickening groan of ancient metal.

They hurried inside without closing the door behind them, only to be greeted by the vibrations of many reawakening engines.

The Doctor saw twenty-eight silver view-ports flickering to life. The Titans lined the walls on either side of the cavernous main hall.

Well, now they knew why this building hadn't been destroyed, didn't they?

He seized Jack by the arm and, using the few precious moments the Titans needed to reboot, they ran for the stairs leading to the upper level.

They were halfway up when the first shots hit. Jack was struck in the right arm and shoulder, leaving him with gaping wounds that went straight through, but the Doctor had dropped fast enough to avoid further injury.

They were using bullets. They didn't want to damage this building. That was good, and it meant there was something here that they'd had a directive not to destroy.

It would keep them alive.

They used the stone balustrade as meagre cover and crawled, painfully slowly, on their stomachs while bullets whizzed overhead and bits of marble rained down around their ears.

When they finally reached the upper landing, Jack heaved himself into the nearest corner and tore off strips of cloth from his garment to wrap around his gushing wounds. The bullets made holes large enough to take down elephants and the pain was excruciating. The prospect of bleeding out meant he'd come back whole, but it was a delay they couldn't afford.

"Think they can fit through that?" He winced and nodded to the archway they'd just crossed into the marble corridor. It was only three metres high and two wide.

He helped Jack back onto unsteady feet and began pulling him quickly along. "Doubt it, but we should move in farther in case they start shooting through it."

As if speaking the words had called upon them to do just such a thing, a giant golden head poked in and it was soon joined by a torso and arm.

"Crouching! Didn't consider crouching!" He nearly choked out as he and Jack ran into the first unlocked room which presented itself.

The chamber, thankfully, had a large bronze door which closed heavily, and the Doctor sealed it quickly with his sonic. He then bolstered the hardness and density so that the otherwise malleable metal wouldn't give way immediately under pressure. It wouldn't stop them for long, but maybe with the tight squeeze, it would slow them down.

"You know, for the smartest man I know, you're an idiot," Jack informed with a grimace as he dug a new slug out of his shoulder with blood-grimy fingers. "Didn't consider crouching." He threw the bloody piece of metal at his friend, squeezed his eyes shut, and took slow breaths to manage his pain.

"Oi! You didn't either!" the Doctor defended hotly. "Now, shut up a minute and let me think."

It was quite dark, save the light filtering in from two large, gold-framed windows. The glass was thick with debris, dust, cobwebs, and dirt, choking the rays which might, in better days, have lit the room.

A single computer mainframe filled the otherwise empty area, and the Doctor immediately went to it and tried to start it.

Nothing.

Well, he hadn't expected it would and they could only be so lucky, couldn't they? Not being dead yet was good enough.

He ran around the back and started pulling it apart.

A thunderous boom hit them from the direction of the sealed door. Then three more followed as the Titan outside it tried to force its way in.

"Tell me what to do, Doc." The captain had abandoned the meagre first-aid he'd been administering on himself and moved to the Time Lord's side.

He loved that about Jack. Never doubted, never questioned, just did whatever it took to save their skins.

"Come here and help me sort this mess of circuits. We have to get power going again. I don't know if I'll be able to access whatever is controlling those machines, but I just might be able to hack into it if I'm very clever."

He yanked at the hair that had fallen into his eyes and went back to sonicking the exposed motherboard.

"Lucky for both of us, I am very clever."

"How much time do you think we have before it gets in?"

The sound of creaking metal assaulted their ears as the Titan began trying to pry the door from its frame.

"...Not enough."

* * *

.

* * *

They washed every inch of her - hands, face, arms, legs, abdomen, chest - everywhere - and they didn't allow her to just get on with it herself.

It wasn't half humiliating for someone as private and secretive as the Alpha, but they seemed to think they were being quite reverent and hospitable.

They anointed her with several fragrant oils and dabbed gold dust at each her temples and the centre of her forehead. The silks of snowy white were draped on her with meticulous artistry and fastened with brooches of gilded, pink enamel roses.

When they started faffing with the glittering gold sashes and plaiting strands of her too-short-to-be-bothered hair with gold ribbon, she protested that she'd had quite enough, _thanks_, but it was time to be _getting on with it_.

When they ignored her, she started ripping off the ornamentation and throwing it to the floor.

They didn't ignore that and looked quite put out, actually.

Well, she didn't honestly expect to be making any friends, so what did it matter?

She was led down a few marble corridors lined with intricately woven rugs and murals on every wall. When they reached a heavy wooden door that bore carvings of roses surrounding a howling wolf, they stopped and waited a moment. The red-haired one, Clytie, must have silently been given permission to enter because she smiled sweetly and pushed open the door.

It seemed to be an audience chamber. It had a few posh chairs and settees upholstered in white brocade with dark, rosewood accents. Gold seemed to be something of an obsession here. This decor was no exception. It was abundant on surfaces, the cloth at the windows, and the intricate moulding on the walls.

The air of the room felt heavy, and wrong, and made her feel like she'd be sick all over the shiny white clothes they'd forced her into. She wanted to run out the door with the mean-looking wolf's head carved on it.

She wanted to be anywhere which wasn't there.

The feeling was only exacerbated by the sight of what awaited her inside.

In the centre of the room sat a woman with black hair artfully swept into a chignon and woven with jewel-encrusted ribbons. Her gown was gold with red sashes glittering with millions of tiny rubies. She shone, both literally and figuratively, but no amount of lavish sparkle could cover the horror upon which she sat.

Her throne seemed out-of-place with the regal beauty it supported, being made of an unidentifiable organic substance which looked similar to some sort of living rock, or calcified wood. It reminded Selene a bit of coral, actually, but without a scan she couldn't be sure. It was monstrous. Gnarled bits stuck out at odd angles, and - the nastiest bit - two splintery spikes jutted from the back of the sitting area directly through the woman's pale, silk-draped shoulders, permanently immobilising its occupant, and seeming to have spread like a parasite around the perforated areas of her once-golden skin.

It made her own skin crawl. What the hell were these people playing at?

"Leave us," came a voice identified as belonging to the woman in the chair.

Clytie melted out of the room.

"Welcome, Alpha Wolf. We have long awaited your arrival."

The woman never opened her eyes, in fact, presented as slightly comatose. She breathed and moved her lips when she spoke, but was otherwise completely still and lifeless. Her voice was flat and gravelly, like it was rarely used, and the Alpha didn't know how one went about addressing someone who was, for all intents and purposes, a living chair.

"So, I've been told. Seems like you know a load 'bout me, an' turnabout's fair play. How 'bout you fill me in a bit on you? I'd say start with who - an' wha', 'cos..." she looked the chair-woman up and down in disbelief and disgust, "wha' you are is somethin' I've never seen, an' tha's sayin' quite a lot, and then finish with jus' wha' the bleedin' hell you actually want from me. Tha'd be grand. Ta."

"You are in a very poor position to be making demands of the High Lady of this world," replied the chair without feeling.

"That'd make more of an impact if I knew wha' a 'High Lady' was, I'm sure," she scoffed with eyebrows nearly in her hairline. "And I'm sure you're _very_ impressive, but a bit gets lost in translation when one can't back themselves up with, you know, movement."

"We are what you are: both one thing, and another. We are symbiotic. We are one."

"Cleared it right up, cheers."

"We are eternal and temporal. We are part of everything, everywhere, and every-when."

"I was being sarcastic, you know, I didn't actually mean I understood wha' you're ravin' 'bout. Can you jus' reverse a bit an' tell me wha' the hell a High Lady is?"

"The empress of this tiny world is called its High Lady. This body was once known as the High Lady Hera."

_Ah. Mad woman who killed her people. Fantastic._ That explained some things. Not many, but some. "Not dead then? Tha's a bit surprising, which _is_ impressive, to be honest. I'd've thought after killing a load of people, the rest might get a bit fed up an' do somethin' about it. Wha' is it then? They drink tha' mind-juice an' you control their 'em when they tap the hive mind? I _knew_ somethin' dodgy was goin' on when I saw tha'. I've gotta say though, if this was the price you paid for power, you got a raw deal, mate."

The High Lady Hera was silent. Selene figured humour was probably lost in her transformation to... that thing. And what a terrible thing to lose! She could zing one-liners at its expense all night. She only lamented not having an appreciative audience.

"Well, you might not agree seein' as you're livin' it, an' I'm jus' over here, you know, walkin', an' not really wantin' to rule the world an' all. Why'd you say you're like me? From where I _stand,_ we're not all tha' alike, you bein' a thing, an' me bein' a not-a-thing."

"You are a child of time and space; a manipulation of the vortex. You exist as I exist, both on, and not on this plane."

The talking statue-like body making her feel sick and she was losing patience with its less than specific answers. "Child of time an' space. Brilliant. So you're a Time Lady- er..._ were_ a Time Lady?"

"My form was never flesh before we became one."

"Brilliant. So, why've you been waitin' for me?"

"We have lost our ability to travel through time and space. This retainer is inadequate. We are decaying and stagnant."

"'S wha' we call a bit of an understatement, innit? Wha' do you need me to do? Fix your legs? I'd say the problem's comin' from your upper half actually. There. Sorted. I'll be leavin' soon as my car comes 'round, yeah?"

"You will restore our form."

"Oi, didn't I jus' say I can't do anythin' about the way you are? You did this! You had to know you'd be stuck, yeah?"

"In you lies the power of everything and nothingness. You will be our conduit."

"Oooohhh, oh, no, tha's where you're wrong. I'm not gonna be your bloody meat puppet. You've already a body on tha' seat, leave me well out of it."

"This body has served its purpose. We no longer have use for this world. You will return us to all of time and space."

The Alpha scrubbed at her face with her hands and tried to think of any way out of this situation. The conversation was at a stalemate, and that would mean the pawns would soon be back to force her submission.

She tried to assess the objects in her vicinity which could be wielded in her own defence. Flowers would do bugger-all, and she doubted the gold candelabra would fare much better against the powerful Olympians. She could crack the chair-woman over the head until she snuffed it, but thinking it and actually doing it, _killing,_ were two very different things. She'd never killed anyone before, and didn't really want to start, even if the body she'd be ending was destined to be cut off like rot in the near future.

At the moment, the only thing she could feasibly do was talk. "I won't. I know you're not askin', but tha's it. I won't."

"That would be very unfortunate for the Lesser Wolves. They will be disposed of if you refuse."

The Alpha glared- truly snarled, baring her teeth as she spat, "You touch one hair on either of my brothers an' I will personally see tha' you quickly find your end as nothin' but bits of gold dust and smashed rock."

"Such hostility and useless emotion. The only truths which exist are suffering, and suffering's end. We suffer in this form. We require your assistance in restoring the form the Lord of Time stole from us. As a Child of Time, is not this your responsibility to undertake?"

"Don't _ever_ threaten my family."

"You will see our suffering ended, will you not? You will see justice done?"

"Always." Her unspoken promise with the word was lost on the woman with no life of her own. "How'm I gonna do it? You chuck off the host you got an' take me instead?"

"You will hold all of time and space and deliver it back unto us. We will slough the unnecessary retainer once we are whole."

"You- you want me to _wha'?" _

This- this _thing _wanted the power of the Bad Wolf! She could hardly believe what she was hearing. Never mind people impaling themselves on weird rocks to rule planets, this was the real madness!

...And never going to happen.

She'd held the power of the Bad Wolf for all of thirty seconds when she'd saved her mother and it'd killed her- almost permanently.

What did this thing think it was going to do? Control it? The essence of the Bad Wolf was too enormous for anything but a TARDIS to sustain.

And how the hell did it even know about it, let alone predict that her prat of a... guardian would land them there at all? Utterly mental. She had to get out. She had to get out and find the Doctor and her brothers. Enough was enough of the reconnaissance- imprisonment, whatever - no force in the wide universe was going to make her willingly tap the Bad Wolf, and no gold woman was going to stand in her way of leaving either. She was done.

"Great. Yeah, stellar plan. I jus' need to use your loo then, an' we'll get crackin', yeah?"

"What is this 'loo' of which you speak?"

"Oh, you know, jus' - er…"

She never finished the thought. The door behind her opened revealing two unconscious women on the ground, one of them the pushy Nymph Clytie, and a grinning man in a grey, tattered toga, with long, curly, brown hair and a maniacal grin. He was silent, which was unusual for Torin, he just held out his hand.

The mad-queen-chair...thing started mentally calling for guards as the air grew heavier and stormy, making her feel like she'd be sick once again.

Wasting no time, the Alpha launched herself at her brother. They embraced for a half a moment before running for their lives.


	16. The Ruins of Olympia

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who.**

**This total monster of a chapter nearly ate my brains. I know I said I'd finish on Olympia this chapter, but I have to break it into one last chunk because, good lord, I'm knackered. This one was a rollercoaster. So, it'll be over with soon, and we'll be on to other exciting developments.  
**

**The flying sequences were written to Seven Lions _Tyven _which, should you be interested, you can hear on youtube.  
**

* * *

"Doc, I hate to pressure you," Jack called from his useless position between the computer and the assailant at the door, sounding like pressure was exactly what he intended, "but we could really use some of that nick-of-time magic right now."

The Titan, just outside their meagre refuge, had pulled one corner of the heavy bronze barrier away from its weakening frame. It would be a matter of minutes before it was rid of it- and them.

"Two ticks!" He called back, moving with as much urgency and frenetic energy as he'd ever managed.

He aimed the sonic in a few more places and was rewarded with the sound of booting circuitry. He jumped, cat-like to his feet, only to have his bloody legs almost betray him once again before he ran around to the monitor. Fingers flying furiously across the dust-caked keyboard, he searched for any access paths to the Titan link.

The corner of the reinforced metal door was slowly peeling back, and enough headway had been made that they could see into the corridor beyond as enormous golden fingers were scrabbling through every few seconds for more purchase. It wouldn't be long before the entire hand fit, and the shooting began anew. This time, if the Titan got through, they were almost assured they wouldn't make it out alive.

Jack scrambled around the room, ignoring his pain and looking for anything he could use against the giant killing machine. He seized a mouldering chair which fell apart as soon as he lifted it from its ancient resting place. Well, it had been a desperate gamble anyway.

He ran to the window and pulled down the threadbare curtains, rod and all. Then divested the heavy pole of its shattered cloth coverings. He ran with it to the door and beat at the fingers every time they appeared. It probably would have been more effective if the thing outside were alive and could feel pain, but at least he was slowing the progress of the machine pulling at the weak point.

"It's no good," the Doctor called bitterly, frowning at the monitor and yanking at his hair as if were being deliberately uncooperative. "They aren't linked into _anything_ in the city's data base! I could bloody route electricity to any pile of rubble you like, but something to save our skins? Asking too much, that is! The only bloody useful thing I've found is that there's a power source in Zeus Olympus, and that's at the base of the bloody volcano!"

"So, were screwed?"

The Doctor raked his hands down his face and turned back to the monitor once more in desperation. "We'll get out of this Jack."

He abandoned finding a way to shut down the things intent on killing them, but kept typing furiously and looking for an escape route from their marble and bronze prison. It didn't seem like there was any way out of the room save the door that was under assault. No vent shafts, no attic access, _nothing._ Nothing but the windows and a twenty metre death-drop to the ground.

He began calculating the likelihood of survival and what types of injuries he'd sustain if they jumped, not that Harkness couldn't come back from such a thing, but his own mortality was a very real obstacle now that he no longer had a regeneration to spare.

He'd never regretted it whenever he'd siphoned off his regeneration energy to help another or accomplish a goal, however, it was seriously biting him in the arse at the moment.

Still, no matter what happened to him, he had to get Jack back to Cardiff and the Tylers - all of them - to safety. So he wasn't done for yet. No. Not by any stretch. He was determined.

And a determined Doctor was a very formidable thing.

He abandoned the console, and began fiddling with the sonic. He then aimed it at the fingers Jack was pointlessly jousting, and watched as they lost their shape and moulded into a solid mass of gold just inside the hole. The Titan tried to withdraw the deformed limb and found the appendage stuck.

Harkness let out a yell that was somewhere between a laugh and a victory cry, but it was cut short when the robot ripped the damaged arm back through the small opening leaving a gaping wound in the wall that would give it more access than it had gained before.

"Well," the Doctor gaped with wide eyes and a sinking feeling in his gut, "that didn't work quite as I planned."

Jack looked ready to murder him and be done with it. "Ya think?!"

The silver view-port of the Titan's face appeared in the hole tauntingly before the arm that wasn't a solid mass slowly reached in and began prying.

"We're going to have to jump, Jack."

"I was afraid you were gonna say that," the captain muttered darkly. "At least the gunshot wounds will be gone when I come back again. What about you? Superior biology gonna save your skin, or are you in for another regeneration?"

"No... I don't exactly have one left," he said as nonchalantly as possible and pulled the immortal man with him to the large grime-caked windows.

He busied himself with the screwdriver, trying to dislodge hundreds of years of dirt so that they could open it. He'd rather not be cut to ribbons if he could avoid it, and somehow jumping through windows had lost its appeal when one had once nearly stranded him in France.

"What, you've got a_ limit_ on them?"

"Yes," he growled, not wishing to dwell on the subject. "On the energy, yes."

"And this is the last of it?! _What the hell, Doc?!_ What the hell are we gonna do?"

"We're going to cross our fingers, Harkness."

"No, we're not." Jack grabbed his arm to get his full attention. "You're going to jump out on my back and I'll break your fall. _I_ have nothing to worry about, you-"

The silence that suddenly filled the room was as frightening as the cacophony had been and it cut Jack off mid-thought.

The Titan had stopped peeling back the door, and there was no sign of the vibrating engines.

"What the hell?" Jack frowned.

"I don't know. Maybe it has speech processors and figured out we were going to jump?"

"Should we… shouldn't we sneak out that way then?" he pointed at the mangled door and knitted his brows. "Or at least get away from the damn window?

"Give it a minute, let's make sure they've actually moved off before we run out like clods."

* * *

.

* * *

"Oh, my clever boys! I'm so happy to see you!"

The Alpha kept clutching at their arms in an attempt to persuade herself that she'd really found them and that she wasn't about to burn up into time-fodder for a bloody insane living _chair._

"Wait, no!" she amended with an elbow into each of their ribs. "I'm cross with you! You two're complete idiots! Wha' the hell were you thinkin' comin' here? _This_ is wha' happens when no one listens to me! An' _wha_' the hell happened to you Omega, eh? You look like someone whipped you while you were lyin' about!" she hissed furiously.

They were crouching in a musty, wooden wardrobe and waiting for a large group of the enthralled women to pass. They'd sonicked the handles, and though it had been jiggled a few times, no one had tried to force her way in - yet.

"Rope burns…" Lios mumbled sheepishly as his sister fussed like a mother hen over the visible wounds with the whirring instrument. It wouldn't do much but he was grateful, it sped the healing and eased the pain a bit.

"Right. Well," she whispered in a softened manner, "we need to get into the inner cities. Tha's where we'll find the Doctor, an' I said I'd be comin' in after him. Who knows wha' it's like in there. My money's on not good."

She yanked at a few of the garments surrounding them. She roughly pulled on a heavy, grey velvet cloak that would cover her entirely, and fastened it at her neck and chest. She yanked down two more and thrust them at Lios and Torin, rolling her eyes at the indignant face Torin pulled.

"It's temporary!" she reminded. "An' better than wha' you got on! Wha' the hell're you wearing, eh?"

Torin's face was all pout, but he put the lady's cloak on without further complaint.

They all pulled up their hoods and prepared to stroll right out into the thick of the confusion.

The Alpha aimed the sonic at the door handle then stowed it back in her bodice - after all, Torin didn't have pockets. She opened the door and the three siblings strolled out leisurely, pretending like they belonged precisely where they had just been and had every right to go exactly where they were going. That nearly always worked.

But not for long this time.

They had made it all the way into the main devotion hall, where the altar housing the enormous, snarling, stone wolf presided. It was going well enough until they neared the front entrance and Selene was bumped. As she blocked the telepathic nudge at her shields, the collective mental alarm went up.

The trio joined hands and sprinted out the doors, swinging with free limbs and shoving bodily at the Olympians who tried to block them. They didn't stop as they reached the street, though they had little clue where they were going.

_ TARDIS?_ Torin shot out to both of them and pulled slightly at his sister's hand to indicate the direction of the timeship.

_ No, I don't have Mum's key._ She flushed at her stupidity in forgetting it as they ran full-tilt, although those women who bathed her would have taken it off of her anyway. _We need to get to a cruiser or a teleport. Cruiser is better, but I've no idea where to look._

_ I do,_ Lios informed them.

Shock flitted over his siblings' features.

_ Saw it in Clytie's head when we put her out._

Despite his current exertion, his face betrayed the inner turmoil he felt at invading the girl he'd so fancied's mind. He knit his brows and couldn't help projecting his feelings a bit to his siblings.

_ Brilliant!_ Torin grinned and jumped over a bench in his path, doing a little mid-air twirl before landing.

The ever suspicious Alpha locked eyes with her youngest brother questioningly. He reddened and looked away.

_ Oh, sod it all, the Doctor was right!_ _You were chatting up that ginger, weren't you? That's how she knew about me,_ Selene mentally huffed._ You let your damned guard down!_

_ I'm so, so sorry, Alpha_. Lios looked thoroughly ashamed and contrite.

Her anger left her all at once and she tightened her fingers around his. _Gormless git, I can't stay mad at you, can I? She was ruddy gorgeous, and I get it, alright?_

The Doctor's words of admonishment rang in her ears. She was not his mother, nor was he a child. He was her brother and it wasn't as if she had navigated this mess perfectly herself.

_ It's not your fault, you couldn't know, could you? Get us to the yard then._

He squeezed her hand back, but mentally retreated from her nonetheless. The poisonous guilt building in his gut would not be assuaged by her reassurance, and he needed time to process.

The Olympians were fast. They kept the triplets running as fast as their legs would carry them, unlike most other species they'd had the pleasure of running from, and they were dead accurate when they threw things. Twice they were almost swallowed by golden nets, only ducking in the nick of time when the Alpha heard the faint, but tell-tale swish milliseconds before disaster. Still, the hesitation allowed a few to catch up and they had to fight them off both physically and telepathically while maintaining top speeds.

They had managed only the slightest lead on the mob when they reached the all but abandoned shipyard.

Selene sonicked the lock on the chains and Torin and Lios wrenched the heavy bronze gate doors open with a seldom-witnessed display of Time Lord brute strength.

They ran in quickly, the brothers slamming the gates shut and throwing their bodies against them while their sister reconnected the chains and locked them again. They ran farther in as the throng reached the tall bronze barrier and finally allowed themselves a moment to stop.

They exchanged bewildered looks which quickly morphed into dazzling grins.

This devolved into fits of wild laughter, and they launched themselves into each others' arms.

"YOU STUPID-"

"UTTER MADNESS!"

"WICKED, YEAH?!"

"I NEVER-"

"CAN'T EVEN-"

"BLIMEY!"

"OI! _SHUT UP!"_

The Alpha's laughter was cut short as she grabbed both men and hurled them to the ground and a gold net sailed over their heads.

"Right. Movin' then! Go!"

They got to their feet and ran into the hangar.

Inside were rows of sleek golden and silver ships shaped like arrowheads with a clear cockpit at the very nose of the ship. They were all in various states of disrepair.

Apparently, travel of this sort hadn't been used in quite some time.

The Doctor had said that all teleports went directly to the nearest inner city, and women weren't allowed. Selene wondered if they did any travelling outside their home areas at all.

All of it was disheartening. These women the triplets were fleeing were unwitting captives being used like pawns by a monster, and as a result, they really hadn't the time to rebuild any of the ships that could help save them all.

A spark lit in them, some intangible agreement of determination, and they were off, each running between the rows to examine each craft for their best options. Their bond made it such that they shared what they learned as they searched, and they had a detailed layout of the hangar in three minutes and sixteen seconds.

The ship, three spots in from the exit, was most complete. It would take twenty-five minutes and thirty-eight seconds to put back into working order.

They worked in a seemingly choreographed dance as the Beta wielded the sonic, reconnecting systems, soldering wires and attaching parts, while the Alpha and Omega cannibalised the other spacecraft and brought him everything he needed. They didn't care how badly they damaged the other ships. They only needed the one to work.

They heard a loud crash in the yard and stopped to listen for a tick.

The mob was trying to batter down the gates.

_ Fantastic._ The Alpha snapped them out if it._ Move! Now! Go! Go! Go!  
_

They all poured on the speed. They still had eight minutes and eleven seconds of repairs to complete, and they would need another six to calibrate once inside.

It would be so, so close.

_ Never going to get it in time. It's impossible,_ The Beta despaired in flashes over which neither of his siblings thought he had any control.

_ Impossible doesn't exist in our family,_ The Omega responded immediately._ Don't think. Just do it._

The Beta's features hardened into an uncharacteristic cold determination, and his fingers flew like they were possessed by lightning sprites.

Another crash outside, followed by crunching metal, and shouting.

All three began frantically wielding spanners and connecting parts.

They were finishing the last set of wires and closing the hull as the last crash and crunch of metal resounded, and the Olympian mob came pouring in.

The three threw themselves through the hatch and sealed the airlocks just as the hangar filled with angry golden bodies.

The Alpha launched herself into the cockpit and began flipping switches experimentally.

The console was behind the captain's chair and facing the wrong direction for flight control with a view of where you were flying. It was strange but she assumed it was a craft which required two people to operate. Thank God she had Torin.

"Can you fly it?" Lios asked, nervously eyeing the horde pummelling the ship outside.

"'Course. I can fly anythin', I jus' need time, an' tha's somethin' we're a _bit_ skint on, yeah?" she answered testily.

Torin was already under the console calibrating the hyper-drives and trying to bring up the navigation systems. At least, if they could get the terrestrial maps, they could set the autopilot while Selene acclimated to the Olympic control systems.

Selene was ready to put a fist through some of the more delicate displays. Nothing was giving her any indication of how to get the stupid glittery thing off the ground! She distinctly disliked being thwarted by a ship. Normally, they got on well. But, like so much on this stupid, stupid planet, it was all very confusing to her sensibilities. Nothing she touched was responding in any way! It just sat there, motionless and dead, only it wasn't! It was lit up like a tree at Christmastime! So why wasn't it registering-

The Alpha stopped touching the control panel, and smacked herself on the forehead with a groan. She immediately reached for a spindly golden headset, which she'd assumed was for external communication, and put it on.

"Actually, I'm utterly thick," she said with a grin as she climbed into the captain's chair near the window. "Wha' d'we know about these people, eh?"

Many golden hands pounded on the dusty glass, leaving trails of grime in their wake.

Lios just blinked at her in bewilderment.

"_Telepathy," _she grinned and pointed to the diodes on the headset. "The controls are telepathic!"

The engines roared to life as she gave them the command, and the Olympians went scattering like rodents before a newly awakened cat.

Lios clung to the strange, rear-facing console as they hovered and rocked back and forth while she got her bearings. He _hated_ being in any craft with his sister at the helm.

Torin, however, had a lunatic grin on his face as he slid himself from under the dusty computers. For him, this would be more fun than he'd had in years.

His brother's expression made Li's stomach clench.

Oh, they were in for it.

Neither man could see the face their sister wore as she gently eased them out of the hangar, and perhaps it was for the best in the case of the Omega. If he had seen the look of unadulterated ecstasy on her grinning visage, he may have demanded to be thrown back to the mob.

She commanded the nav-systems to chart a course for the nearest capitol city, and they were slicing through the open sky like a golden arrow.

She didn't care about anything in that moment.

She was flying again.

* * *

.

* * *

"Right. They've gone," The Doctor announced while they cautiously peered out the circular clean spots they'd rubbed into the grime-covered pane after seven whole minutes had elapsed without an attempt on their lives.

"Not complaining, but why?"

"Either they're coming around to shoot us through the windows, or they found something else to kill," he replied sagely. "Though, I imagine they'd have at least come around where we could see them if they were still bent on getting us. So..."

"So they're chasing someone else."

"Your powers of deduction are astounding, Harkness."

"The kids?"

"Only if the universe hates me."

Jack managed a weak chuckle, his head woozy from blood loss. "Does it?"

"Usually."

The walls around them shook as a sonic boom crashed through the air shattering the windows before them. They ducked and covered their heads as another, then another resounded through the city, followed by the unmistakable sound of large flying objects impacting the ground. The building shook with the force of the explosion.

The Doctor used his sonic to free the mangled door from its precarious position and it fell with a resounding clang. They stepped over it and into the wrecked but empty corridor.

Another sonic boom dislodged marble dust from the ceiling and it rained down on top of them, covering them in white and making it appear as if each had aged substantially in a matter of moments.

The lower hall was deserted, not a single Titan remained.

They hurried down the bullet-riddled stairs to the ancient main doors, which were standing open, as another distinct crashing sound and following explosion shook the building again.

Outside, tearing through the smoky early evening sky, a small fighter ship was darting in and out of the ruins at unbelievable speeds as the remaining thirteen Death Engines gave a lively chase.

It was an incredible sight. Whoever the pilot was, he was bloody brilliant. More than half of the deadly machines lay in tangled, golden masses, burning with blue fire and asphyxiating, black smoke. Their carcasses littered the decaying city, some appearing to have collided with each other, others seemed to have been all but vaporised when they impacted the earth.

The noise was deafening. It assaulted their ears and vibrated their bones mercilessly. Covering them did little to muffle the din; it was as steady and overwhelming as a tornado, threatening to make their ears bleed. The air was choked with the smells of burning things and stone dust, but neither could do anything more than stand rooted, following the suicidal manoeuvring of the glimmering ship weaving its way through the rubble of Apollo Zephyrus.

The pilot made a hairpin turn around a crumbling temple and one more Titan slammed into the columns, sending a mushroom cloud of blue fire and smoke billowing into the sky.

Another turn saw the fighter ship flying toward them fast enough to send them both sprawling on their backs.

As it passed overhead, the Doctor felt an unfamiliar nudge in his mind.

_ Keepin' out of trouble then, Bow-tie?_

For a moment he was too stunned and disoriented where he'd fallen to comprehend what he was receiving. He tugged at his sooty tie and his eyes went wide before he opened his mind to her.

_ You beautiful little terror! What took you so long? I was afraid you'd actually listened and gone back to the TARDIS!_

_ Bit of trouble then?_

_ A smidgen._

_ Had to ditch a mob an' nick a ride. Kid's stuff._

The ship was flying almost straight up into the sky and turning barrel roll after barrel roll to avoid the line of fire. She wasn't even attempting to engage them with her own weapons, merely letting them smash themselves to bits in their attempts to destroy her.

Suddenly, she plunged into a dive and began rolling and swerving again. Jack nearly jumped into the Doctor's lap when she came within metres of hitting the earth before she pulled up, and continued racing through the city, dangerously close to the ground. Four Titans were destroyed in the dive and another skimmed too close to the ground, hit a marble column lying on its side, and slammed into a structure which collapsed on top of it. It blew up shortly after, sending chucks of stone flying in every direction.

_ You're giving Jack a heart attack._

_ He'll live._

And another close call just then! A loose column fell as the vibrations of their engines neared, and it came perilously close to ripping off her port side wing, missing by only 1.654 seconds. The split second of hesitation had allowed one of the Titans to get too close, and there was nothing he could do but watch in helpless agitation.

_ You're giving me two._

_ Oi! Drivin' here._

_ Watch your starboard!_

_ I see 'em, old man. Keep your knickers clean._

_ Starboard, Alpha! **Starboard! STARBOARD!**_

A Titan had flanked her on the right and had her locked in its sights. Soon it was joined by another and a third came up on her port side. She had slowed so minutely that, had he not the superior sight that he did, he'd never have noticed, but it was enough to allow the machines to manoeuvre into a deadly position by her wings which was so very _not_ good! Was she running out of fuel? Was something malfunctioning in the engine? His hearts, once again, felt like they were trying to escape his chest.

_ Are you alright? Alpha! What are you doing? What's going on? Are you okay? Selene Tyler! They're all around you!_

_ Shut up a minute._

Three sets of laser fired simultaneously and the Doctor and Jack's screams were lost in the deafening cacophony surrounding them, but the ship pulled into an almost vertical ascension, and with an incredible burst of speed, dodged the laser fire. The Titans hit each other instead and the mid-air explosion destroyed another two, leaving only two of the originally nearly thirty killing machines.

This frankly incredible and impossible little nightmare of a girl had done that, and he'd never felt so proud or fond of her.

_ Last two, be careful._

_ Kinda busy, yeah?_

_ Oi! You talked to me first! Blimey. You're actually allowing-_

_ Be sickenin' later._

Perhaps fond wasn't the right word.

She rolled and swerved for another few minutes, the remaining stubborn machines giving her several close calls with their laser fire, before they finally collided when she dipped low to the ground again. As they tangled together, they slammed into a ruin only half a kilometre from where Jack and the Doctor watched, gobs hanging open. Debris rained all around them and they coughed and sputtered as the noxious fumes and smoke-filled the area.

_ Burned-out courtyard two an' a half kilometres south, _she sent as she flew over their heads and sought a place to safely land.

The Doctor grabbed the Captain's arm and they ran in the direction she'd flown.

"Doc, who the hell _was_ that? Military? A pocket of resistance? Are there some men left here after all? Amazons? Was it the women that sent us here? What the hell is going on?" Jack shouted above the din of burning and crumbling rock.

His ears felt like they had flannel stuffed into them, but he laughed, "No, Harkness. That was our dear little Alpha." He spun himself around with a little hop and a clap of his hands. "She and I were _chatting!_ We _talked,_ Jack!" His grin couldn't get wider. He ran faster, leaving Jack behind a bit with a stunned and horrified look on his face.

When he burst into the yard where she had landed, he saw all three Tylers and felt like he could do cartwheels. They were the cleverest Time Tots in the universe, they were.

Well, not really tots, no.

Hadn't they just proven how incredibly capable and grown-up they were? Saved his skin in the process too! Still, tots by comparison.

Terribly cocky, idiotically fearless, hopelessly reckless, utterly brilliant tots.

The Alpha was practically bouncing in place with a grin of giant proportions, the likes of which he would never before have believed her capable.

Torin was flushed and squirming with pent-up adrenaline and supporting Lios by the shoulders, while the youngest brother was being violently sick into some bushes.

He ran toward the three, shouting with joy.

"I've never been so happy to see your scowling face, Selene Tyler! You, _reckless_ girl, are magnificent!"

"Careful, Doctor. You might slip an' say somethin' nice you'll end up regrettin'."

"Where did you ever learn to fly like that? And how? You've never been in an Olympian Fighter before, have you?"

"Anyone can fly anythin' once they know how it works." She rolled her eyes then grinned maniacally again, unable to sustain the snark through her high. "We had a couple of short-range cruisers on our ship," she told him enthusiastically while she bounced in place. "Dad took us out all the time. _Never_ stopped bein' fun for me, even after he was gone. Used to play a game we called 'Dodge-me an' Seeker' with Torin in asteroid fields. It was like hide an' seek, only with massive moving rocks an' mortal danger. _Bloody loved it!_ Lios'd distract Mum 'cos, well," she pointed at the vomiting young man, "he gets all ropy, an' off we'd go! Nearly skinned us alive the few times she found out, though." She laughed and spun in a circle on one foot, landing with a flourish of her arms.

"I never caught her even once." Torin beamed with pride as he pushed her shoulder and looked at the plumes of black smoke from the burning piles of wreckage of the Titans. "Best pilot in the universe, my sister. I'm brilliant at it too, of course, but_ this_ one is ridiculous."

"Well, it was worth the skinning! Incredible! Well? What are we doing standing about? Where's Harkness?"

"Selene!" Jack finally just caught up, crashed himself into the Alpha, swept her off her feet in a bear hug, swinging her around in circles. "Selene! You're totally insane! Do you understand how terrifying what you just did was?"

"'M _fine,_ Jack, we're all fine-"

"And I didn't even know it was you! You're amazing! Don't ever do that again! What is wrong with you? Don't you know how close you came to-"

"Oi! Jack!"

"-dying? I don't know how easily you'd regenerate if you blew up, you idiot! God! That was just incredible! Never do it again! But it was incredible! What's wrong with the Lios?"

The Omega had stopped being sick in the bush and sat down with his head between his legs. He'd taken off a heavy grey cloak and cast it aside as he still had cold sweats. He was looking battered in every way, from the green pallor because of the ordeal he'd just survived to the crusted wounds running in parallel lines across his arms and torso. He half lifted his head at the mention of his name, then let it drop again when the effort only caused him to want to resume being sick.

"Never could stomach rough piloting," Torin sniggered. "He'll be fine in a mo',"

"_Rough?_" the younger brother spluttered into his knees, "_Rough?_ If that was rough, then what would _you_ call _utterly shattering?_"

The curly-haired brother just shook his head with mock disgust and turned his attention to the eldest Time Lord. "What next, Doctor?"

"Now, we go to Zeus Olympus, the city at the base of the mountain and have a poke about! See if we can shut the rest of the Titans down remotely. Alpha," he turned to her and was reluctant to make the request, but it could prove vital to their success, "can you manage a repeat performance should we need it?"

"Pfft. I was born for this, old man," she retorted with a smug grin, ignoring the whimper from her youngest sibling and the groan from Jack, then bounced on her heels. She was still buzzing with adrenaline, and felt like she could take on anything in that moment.

"Excellent! More mincing maniacal machinery then!" he exclaimed, then caught the horrified expression the blond man was wearing. Whether it was the idea of enduring that kind of flight again, or the danger to his sister, the Doctor couldn't tell, but he knew Lios was not happy about it. "Though, maybe I ought to do the flying and you lot handle the mainframe."

"Never happenin'." Selene folded her arms across her chest, not quite able to scowl, but her face in a more stern smile than before. "You'd be flattened in seconds."

Lios shot her an angry look, and she rolled her eyes.

"Jus' take these gits an' I'll handle the Titans." She'd be damned if she let anyone else handle them. She knew she could keep them all as safe as possible if they'd just leave her to it.

"I am a rather brilliant pilot, you know. Technically, taught you everything you know." He ran a hand through his fringe and Torin caught his eye with a megawatt smile.

"Yeah? Fiver says I could make mince of you _an'_ the maniacal machinery, Bow-tie an' Braces."

"Oi! Leather and Eyebrows - though you are distinctly less leathery right now, aren't you? What is that? _A cloak_? _You_ wear braces, and bow-ties are cool." He tugged lightly at his dust-coated accessory. "Make it ten in the next asteroid field."

She tugged at the neck of the garment concealing her exposed body, suddenly more aware that she wasn't in her accustomed armour. "You're on, pensioner. I wear braces to hold up my trousers, not 'cos they make me look cool. I _am_ cool."

"Oh, Tyler, just you wait. Prepare to learn a thing or twelve. Might want to take notes, actually."

_"Will you two shut up already?"_ Lios was still a bit green from his sister's flying, and quite cranky. "Blimey, I think I liked it better when you didn't get on!"

"Oi! Don't get shirty! Don't worry, Doctor. I'll still hate you after I've taken your ten quid, no matter wha' my git brother thinks."

"No, you won't."

"Oi! Shut it! Both of you!" Lios snapped once again. "Selene, I'm never, I mean _never_ getting back in that ship with you bloody flying. Let the Doctor get us to the city. He knows where it is, and just... I'm never."

* * *

.

* * *

The Doctor set the ship down a few kilometres outside the city walls. Despite his boasting, the foreign feeling of the telepathic control system projecting the landscape into his head was jarring. He much preferred the smooth symbiosis of his TARDIS, who worked with him but remained somewhat autonomous, and he was quite glad to leave it to the young woman who eagerly supplanted him in the captain's chair- shooed him out even, like he was a clumsy toddler touching Mummy's good china. His head ached. There was just something wrong with her.

The Capitol, too, was in a state of total devastation and ruin. He had no doubt they would come upon Titans, he just hoped they could sneak in without alerting any of their presence. If the Alpha didn't have to risk her life, so much the better.

She had agreed grudgingly to stay grounded until she got an alert from one of them that they needed a distraction, but she seemed to be itching for another go.

Jack stayed behind with her and the three male Time Lords skulked into the once-proud High Capitol City of Zeus Olympus.

The air in the place felt wrong and thick with some unknowable evil. Perhaps it was their own fear and anxiety warning them that danger was imminent, but the Doctor doubted it. To him it felt more as if something was radiating disease and madness into the atmosphere, like a cancerous heart pumping befouled blood into the very fabric of existence, and they were headed straight for it.

It didn't bode well.

As he always found himself doing in uncomfortable situations, the Doctor covered his ill ease with chatter.

_ So, what happened to you boys then? I turned around and you were gone, and your sister nearly murdered me for it, you know. When she didn't, I thought something was wrong with her and checked to see if she'd been having a bit of the Ambrosia. Hadn't thankfully, but what happened?_

_ Ate a bunch of the gold fruit. You didn't say about that. Only the drink, _ Lios responded, remembering how he found Torin and grinning, then remembering that Clytie had duped him, and became sombre again.

_ Right. Should have mentioned, yes, but they don't usually allow anyone to eat enough of it to make a difference. Sorry, chaps._

_ I nicked four before they knew what I was_ _doing,_ Torin seemed rather proud of himself, actually,_ then this old bird and her mates nabbed me. Kept trying to poke about in my head, but I wouldn't let them. They gave me a few more to eat hoping I'd pass out, but I never did. The last time they tried, one came alone and I caught her off guard by screaming in her head, then told her to sleep. Worked like a charm,_ he boasted, catching the Doctor's eye._ Then I found this git tied up in the room next to mine. We found the Alpha while we were in the scullery trying to clear the toxins. Bunch of the nutters were hauling her off to see their leader. Bloody weird when we found her,__ that was__. The leader, I mean, not the nutters, although, I gather she's a nutter too. The queen... thing. The queen is also a nutter. And a thing. They're all nutters.  
_

Lios sent a wave of gratitude to his brother for not embarrassing him or mentioning that he'd had his mind invaded. He was still feeling violated and betrayed, and thoroughly ashamed that he'd let a pretty face undo his sense.

_ Wait a tick_, Lios sent and shared the memory of Clytie's words by the river about the history of her people. _But that can't be entirely true can it? We know the queen isn't dead even if she's... different, and we know the Titans weren't destroyed. She seemed so honest at the time…_

The Doctor smiled gently at the young man. _She likely was being honest. In that moment, she shared with you what she believed, and likely all of them believe when they aren't being controlled. Your sister mentioned their devotions were mass communing of consciousness. I doubt that girl is aware of what she's doing half the time.  
_

Lios nodded sadly, then got a determined look in his eye. The Doctor was right. None of those women were necessarily evil or insidious. They weren't in control, and that needed to be remedied.

_You both keep talking about the High Lady like she's grotesque and not just wicked. What was wrong with her?_

Both brothers tensed and shuddered. Torin, who had been closer when they'd retrieved their sister, actually faltered a step and nearly fell flat on his face into a pile of rubble.

_She... it... was sort of impaled on some kind of rock... but still alive... ish. And the rock was fusing to her body. You'll have to talk to the Alpha, she talked to it. I can't... I can't describe it properly. We just got the hell out as fast as we could, but it felt... out of order. My time senses were going mad and it was making me ill. Bit like this actually..._ _Why does it feel like we're walking into hell? _ Torin shuddered again, the pervasive wrongness seeping into his very bones.

_ Maybe we are, _the Doctor returned somberly.

He was concerned by Torin's description to say the least.

What could be affecting the fabric of time so?

Why had Hera mangled herself in such a way, and how much was it affecting the current state of their location some two hundred miles away?

How could he set any of it right?

How much more loss of life were they facing?

What could he do to minimise it?

He picked up his pace as they approached the centre of the city.

Again, the only building left intact was the main municipal pantheon, though this one was three times as large as the one he'd been trapped in before, and it jutted out from the very mountain itself. The corruption poured forth from its walls, and was definitely emanating from somewhere within the summit.

They skulked around the broken stones and structures until they were half a kilometre from the crumbling, marble stairs.

The older Time Lord knew there would be Death Engines waiting for them inside.

He took in the massive doors that barred them from making a stealthy entrance. No holes in the sides of the building offered passage to creep through, and nothing he could see no other option but to take the plunge and rely on the cleverness of their girl and Jack.

He mentally called to her and anxiously waited the few minutes until he heard the engines of the fighter approaching.

The Doctor turned to the boys and grinned.

_ Geronimo!_

He took off at a run up the steps and wrenched open the doors with all his might. They groaned and moved laboriously, sending showers of dirt and corrosion raining down upon them.

They were immediately greeted by the sounds of Titans coming to life.

The Doctor didn't hesitate. He pulled the doors open fully, taking care to stay out of sight, then grabbed the two lads who were looking in at the deadly machines with awe and horror, and yanked them with him around the side of the building.

The Titans poured out into the air. There were so many more than had been in Apollo Zephyrus. At least thirty had already emerged and were already in fast pursuit of the Alpha, and more still were coming. In the end no less than fifty-five Titans were hell-bent on annihilating the Olympic ship moving almost too fast to follow with the naked eye.

"Blimey, that's terrifying to watch, isn't it?" Torin gaped as he clutched at his brother's arm in fear for the third part of their collective whole. "Brilliant- but properly, properly scary."

All colour drained once more from Li's face and he nodded once sharply, unable to tear his eyes from the danger into which his sister had so excitedly thrown herself and Jack.

"Come on, Tylers. Let's do our bit," the Doctor reminded.

He wanted to shut the things down as soon as possible. He didn't like that she was facing almost double what she had before. He too worried that all her bravery and bravado wouldn't be enough, and, more keenly, he feared they wouldn't be in time to save her.

They ran into the hall and split up, checking every room and searching for the mainframe.

Torin came upon it first up two flights of stairs. "OI!" he called as they heard the first thunderous boom and the sounds of burning from outside.

The two other men ran in and the Doctor immediately began dismantling the circuit board. Between the three of them, their amassed genius, and one sonic device of many brilliant uses, they had it running again in five minutes and six seconds.

The Doctor set to cracking the database while the brothers watched with bated breath. Every management system for this city and all the others became available to him in seconds, but nothing indicating a link to whatever controlled the Titans.

He slammed a fist against the console and uttered a filthy curse in Gallifreyan.

The boys' eyes went wide at the outburst in their shared forgotten tongue, but it was Lios who spoke first.

"I think it's what we're feeling," he whispered tensely. "I don't think they're going to be connected into anything within the control of the former populace."

The Doctor nodded at the young Time Lord. He'd had the same thought, but was hoping it wouldn't be the case- or that at least he could create a bridge between the two systems. However, no interface even registering in any scan that could be in any way linked to whatever controlled them. "Nothing for it but to go in deeper and find it then."

The volcanic mountain had been excavated to extend the building far into its heart. The volcano was long dead, but the walls were glassy, black obsidian, lending eerily to the feeling that they were travelling through the halls of hell itself.

They wandered through its labyrinth allowing the sickening feeling guide them while it wreaked havoc on their senses.

Lios had to stop and retch a few times as they moved closer, and neither of the other men felt any better. It was horrible in every way. Their time senses felt dulled and muddy, and each of them had developed headaches that increased in pressure and pain the closer they got.

It was behind a sinister, steel door, whatever it was, and every instinct was telling them to run and never look back.

Torin began retching and heaving into a corner and was soon joined by the already ropy Lios.

The Doctor steeled himself against his own waves of nausea, and heaved the door open wide.

Red glow bathed him as he stood in the threshold and took in the barbarity before him. Cold knives pierced his hearts, and he cried out in agony and outrage at the sight.

"What _is_ that?" Torin had come up behind him and was trying to make sense of it all.

"It's a TARDIS… or... or it was a TARDIS once. It's not... not any longer - not really, not in the way that my TARDIS is, thank all that is dear in the universe for that. This one is perverted. Its heart has been ripped out and shoved away into this room to rot and ruin this world, and eventually all of existence with it."

Torin and Lios were stunned and horrified.

"How… how did they? How could they do this? How_ could_ they… _How?_" Torin was burning with rage as he looked at the glowing red TARDIS core.

It looked like someone had been over zealous with an axe, ripped out her heart, and shoved wires into it to get it beating again. Living wires trailed onto the floor like severed veins, and gold tubes had been shoved into it in every direction, pumping in whatever was keeping it alive. The coral had branched out of it in splintering spikes that searched for a connection to some unknowable entity.

Torin punched the stone wall next to him to get some- _any_ of the rage out of his system.

"How could they?" the Doctor scoffed in his own righteous anger. "Time Lords treated their sentient ships like commodities and soulless machines rather than living beings. Respect for life isn't universal, and often the exception, not the rule."

"But it isn't _right!_ It isn't _fair!_ Who could do this? _It isn't okay!_ They shouldn't get away with this! They can't! _Look_ at her! It's…"

"It's sick," Lios whispered, then tore his eyes away and ran to retch into a corner again. "And it's the same thing growing in the queen."

Both his counterparts froze at the revelation.

Torin looked ready to be sick again, and nodded weakly.

It was the truth. Somehow the two entities had fused and, while the heart beat here, protected by miles of peril in the form of robotic weapons and buried deep to prevent discovery, the brain resided elsewhere, plugged in to a telepathic being to control all life on this world.

The Doctor swallowed down the anger and frustration threatening to overwhelm him, it would do very little to solve the issues at hand, and schooled his features into a mask of calm and collectedness. "The kindest thing to do now is put her out of her misery. But we have to be very careful. This mountain houses a rift. Those tubes are funnelling rift energy into the core and keeping it alive. We have to remove them without blowing her up, or alerting anything to what we're doing."

Neither man replied, only moved behind him to do whatever he required of them. The Doctor was grateful for both their willingness and their silence. Words hardly felt appropriate just then.

They worked as quickly as the older man dared, and when the final, red flicker of life left the mangled core, if more than one cheek was wet, no one mentioned it.

Several simultaneous explosions outside shook the ground. It was done then. They'd permanently disabled the Titans.

No one felt like celebrating.

"We can't leave her here. We should look for the any other pieces of her that might be hidden away. I'll go with your sister and bring the TARDIS, but we can't leave her here. Look what they've already done. Can't risk any more."

The boys just nodded and hurried from the room to begin their search.

The Doctor felt like his feet were made of lead weights as he dragged himself into the corridor. By the time he was halfway back the way they'd come, he was running. He couldn't spend an extra second inside any longer.

He burst into the daylight to see a grinning pair leaning against the gold and silver ship, waiting expectantly. He didn't return their smiles as he strode up to them and they both lost them quickly.

The Alpha knitted her brows and eyed him. "Everythin' alright? Wha' happened?"

"No, everything is not alright," the Doctor snapped. If she'd just... if she had just been smart enough to recognise... when she'd seen... "Everything is so far from alright that they're practically in another universe from alright. Jack, go in and help the brothers. Alpha, take me to my TARDIS."

"Yeah, alright," she returned, concern colouring her tone. "Get in, but you're talkin' to me."

"And who're_ you_ to make that sort of demand of _me?_ When have you willingly given up anything I've asked?"

She looked at him like he'd slapped her, but nodded and shut her mouth, climbing back into the fighter without another word.

He took a minute outside with Jack, who didn't chastise or berate him for his harsh words, only looked at him with tired old eyes in a young face.

"It's that bad." It wasn't a question.

"I've never seen anything like it, Jack," he swallowed at the persistent lump in his throat. "It's a mess I have to clean up too. I can't just leave it to anyone else this time."

"See you when you get back, Doc."

They nodded at each other, the Captain heading inside the building, and the Doctor ducking into the ship.

A bit guiltily, he shuffled into a seated position as far from her as he could manage. How he longed for the endless corridors and many hiding places in his TARDIS.

The Alpha was already setting the autopilot coordinates and they took off in short order.

She didn't speak to him for the first sixteen minutes and eighteen seconds. He sat at one end of the cockpit and she the other. Even his mind was completely barred and blocked. Then she broke the silence with a long-suffering huff.

"I'm assumin' if anythin' happened to my brothers, you'd tell me."

He ignored her.

"I'm also assumin' you want to be left alone to brood, an' I get it, love a good brood, me, but I risked my neck a bit so you lot could do- whatever it is you did, an' I think I deserve to know wha' happened, yeah?"

"Little girl," he bit out, "the universe doesn't care about what you think you deserve, and neither do I."

"Cheers. Tha's quite enough of tha' then."

She stood up and closed the distance between them, then slumped down against the wall next to where he'd puddled himself. She grabbed his hand and started massaging his palm while sending waves of calm and comfort. He tried to pull away, but she tightened her grip and continued.

"Dad liked this," she told him softly. It was a voice he hadn't heard her use. Tender. Kind. "Sometimes, after we'd been almost killed, or had narrowly escaped the Shadow Proclamation - did you know 'bout tha'?"

He still refused to look at her. Did she want him to feel worse? Or was that just her special talent?

"Torchwood got 'em on us," she continued gently, without the accustomed accusatory tint. "Said we were fugitives tha' needed to be returned to Earth. Always had us on the run, Torchwood- even a hundred years after we left Earth, we never quite shook 'em."

She kept her eyes on his palm as she kneaded and he chanced a small look at her face. He saw only wistfulness and... grief.

"Anyway, sometimes, after a really close call an' his heart was bein' a bit dicky, I'd calm him down like this. He never wanted Mum to know, y'know, 'cos we all made it hard enough on her most of the time anyway- 's hard, y'know? Bein' cooped on a ship for months with... people like us who need constant stimulation. Drove her batty, we did. So he... he jus' tried to make it better for her, but he couldn't keep it from us 'cos we could hear it... the arrhythmia an' the pace."

The Doctor didn't know what to say, so he didn't, only relaxed in her grip and allowed her to continue soothing him. She'd never make this better, but it was something.

"When he died-" she hesitated, then let the words pour forth in a loquacious flood, "when he died, I thought my whole world would shatter. Or, I dunno, stop. Felt like it _should _jus' stop. But everythin' jus' kept goin' like it always does, an' I was… so lost… I needed him to… help me… I needed him to tell me wha' to do, an' how to be, oh, lord, I dunno, brave, or clever, or _right._ I needed him to tell me how to be perfect, 'cos... 'cos he was to me. Perfect, totally perfect, y'know? He... But he died, an' I had to figure it out myself. Couldn't try'n be like Mum - I mean, let's be honest, I'm _nothin'_ like Mum, wha'ever Jack says, tha's Li, not me - but I could _try_ to be as perfect as my dad."

She stopped rubbing and simply stared at his palm in her hands like it held all the secrets for which she so desperately searched.

"Be as brilliant, an' know everythin', an' exactly wha' to do all the time," she sighed. "Never works though, does it? Tryin' to be perfect. The best. The cleverest an' the most right."

She relinquished her hold on him, gently placing his hand back in his lap as he stared at her, though she studiously avoided his eye.

"'S like a compulsion now though, innit? Gotta be the one tha's _always_ right. But I'm... not. I'm really not. 'S really wha' I was tryin'a say... An' tha'... I'm sorry tha'… well, it must've been bad. An' I'll leave you alone now, but I'll listen if you want too. So, yeah… I'm gonna check trajectories an' flight time estimates. O-over there."

The Doctor watched her stand up, still without looking at him, and move to the backwards-facing console, mucking about with things which didn't really need adjusting.

"You're a good girl, Selene Tyler."

"No, I'm not," she said with a bitter chuckle. "An' I'm not a nice girl either. I'm jus' not heartsless, an' you looked like... Doesn't matter... never mind."

He hesitated a moment before wordlessly offering her his memory of the last few hours.

She jumped into it without hesitation, and within minutes was slumped against the wall opposite him with her head in her hands. Her own guilt eating her alive.

The thing she'd denied help; the thing that she'd cursed, threatened, and disparaged mercilessly; the thing that had begged her to see justice done and restore it to its proper state of being, had been...

She felt broken. She felt enraged. She felt like a monster.

They didn't move or speak during the remainder of the flight, nor did they speak while Selene landed the craft in the courtyard next to the TARDIS, nor when they entered the very alive timeship.

She practically ran to her young one and he to his console where they each lay tender hands on their beloved friends, seeking reassurance and affirmation that they were safe and whole.

"Wha' now then?" Her voice was hoarse and heavy.

"Now we go back and remove any trace of Time Lord technology from this planet, and see if we can't salvage a woman's life before she dies with the coral."

"But wha' about the one tha' did it? How do we find the one tha' brought it here and tore it apart? I can't leave this until we find him an' he _pays_ for wha' he's done to tha' ship- to these people..."

"No. Little chance of that for either of us, actually. We'll put a damper on her telepathic field and try to save her body, but we won't be pursuing this any further than that, Alpha."

"Wha' about the people? Wha' happens to them? Shouldn't we be lookin' for survivors in the inner cities?"

"How close did you come to dying today?"

"I'm fine!"

"And how often?" There was no judgement, nor any shred of concern in his voice. He was merely making a point.

"Often enough, an' close enough."

"Knowing that, do you think there are any survivors?"

"No."

"Neither do I."

"So you're tellin' me, tha' all the males on this planet - this _species -_ have been wiped out?"

"I'm almost certain of it."

"I can't accept tha'."

He sighed and pushed his fringe back. "It's not about what you can accept. It's about what _is,_ Tyler…"

"How the hell'd they even get a hold of it? I mean, who'd do tha'? Was it on purpose? How could a Time Lord _ever_ allow his ship to be gutted like tha'?"

"When I was here last, no Time Lords had ever even set foot here. Diplomatic dealings were strained. There's only one way this could have -"

"Wait," she interrupted with brewing suspicion in her gravelly voice. "You've been here before?"

"Pretty well-travelled, actually. Not many populated places I haven't."

"So… It was…? Was it you then? Are _you_ the reason there will never be another Olympian born here?"

"Tyler, no…" he placated, putting his hands in the air and taking a few steps toward her. "I am a man capable of many things. I've killed… billions… Caused… You can't imagine… But, no. I didn't cause this."

She relaxed minutely as he closed the distance between them.

"I was here at least two centuries prior, before the Time War. And as you see, my TARDIS is very much alive and whole, and I've only ever had the one. The Time Lord that caused this could only have been the Master. He was once in possession of several ships and has never had much regard for their status as living things. Once, I'd never have believed it possible, but as you know, I met him again twice. He must have come here after he escaped the timelock."

"So then we go back an' stop him when he gets here. Move it."

"It doesn't work like that."

"'Course it does. Fix this."

"It doesn't! We're in the time stream now! We can't go back! I wish more than anything we could, but we can't!" he reasoned harshly. She was being willfully dense. "But it's _more_ than that! Use your senses! What do you see?"

"Doesn't matter! _Fix_ this!" She shoved heavily against his chest. "You're the bloody madman with the blue box who _fixes these things!_ _Do it!_"

"What do you _see?"_ he insisted, holding his ground against her indignant rage.

_ "What good is all of time an' space if we don't fix this?"_ She spun on her heel and made to move in the direction of the console.

He grabbed her shoulders, effectively stopping her on the spot, and nearly shouted in her face, "What do you see? With your time senses!" He shook her roughly. "Stop avoiding it!"

She stared into the Doctor's eyes, pleading silently that he make it not the truth, hating how powerless he was admitting they truly were.

She dropped her gaze to her feet and whispered, "'S a fixed point. Not here. Not now. Before. 'S rubbish."

"Completely rubbish."

His grip softened, and before he gave it a second thought, he swept her into a gentle embrace.

"I'd give anything to stop them going through all that suffering and death, but the fact that _now_ _isn't_ fixed is the good news, Selene Tyler, Time Lady of Leather and Eyebrows."

He kissed her forehead gently.

"Even if we can't ever give them back what they've lost, we can give them a future."

She furrowed her brows and cocked her head slightly.

"Looms, Tyler, looms."

"So, tha's it then? All females forever?"

"Until they either find a way to clone Y chromosomes, or breed with outsiders, yes. At least they can return to the inner cities and reclaim a bit of what they've lost."

He let go of her and walked back to his console.

"Right now we need to focus of clearing up what we can, then we'll deal with Lady Hera, and giving the people the loom schematics."

He started the dematerialisation sequence and took them back to the nightmare within the mountain.


	17. Compassion

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor gain anything monetarily from the writing of this story.**

**First, please accept my apologies for taking so long to update. Holidays. Work. Life. We all know the drill, but still, I will strive to keep the updates regular again from here on out.**

**Second, yay, we're through with Olympia! Ish. Shut up. Spoilers.  
**

**C: I've a nasty habit of writing out of order once I get to the middle bits. I hate writing middle bits, so our ending is done and now I have to connect it all.**

**Thank you so much for the comments, support, and encouragement! I haven't said before, but it really means a lot to me when I get the notifications. Definitely a huge day brightener, and I love that anyone other than myself is enjoying my little brain child.**

**With that... This is one of my favourite chapters so far. But it's the calm before the storm.  
**

* * *

It took them hours to locate every piece of the coral, but soon enough every trace of TARDIS or Time Lord tech had been stripped away from the obsidian labyrinth, and safely stowed within the depths of the Doctor's own timeship.

Each participant had a heavy heart as the last piece, the now dark and lifeless core, was loaded and stowed away deep within the recesses of the TARDIS.

His ship had totally withdrawn from interacting with her passengers as they worked. The Doctor assumed she was mourning in her own way. This must have been why she brought them, but it couldn't have been easy to see one of her sisters in such brutal condition. He sent her his love and commiseration through their bond.

The triplets and Jack disappeared to change while he set the coordinates for Zeus Lycaeus.

It was well into the twilight of the evening, and the Doctor wanted nothing more than to be done with this awful planet - why had he been so excited to come here again?

Oh, right, excellent sweets.

Still, awful terrible planet - but he couldn't leave without the remaining coral and had to at least attempt to free their ruler from her organic prison.

The Doctor landed them directly in the chamber of the lamentable queen, but they found it deserted, and throughout were obvious signs of struggle. Smashed statuettes and shredded flower garlands littered the floor, and the most disheartening of all, fragmented shards of red TARDIS coral.

They followed the wake of overturned amphoras, broken flower vases, and pillars askew up to the ground floor and into the main temple containing the golden wolf and the altar. There, they found the women of Zeus Lycaeus in hopeless mourning.

The truth with all its horrific memories had come back to them in a tumultuous flood, and most were sobbing and clutching each other for comfort. Some were obviously outraged, with no vent for their righteous anger apart from the destruction of the physical manifestations of the lie they had been living for centuries. These women were smashing the marble wolves and ripping apart rose garlands.

None in the Doctor's party could blame them. Most of them felt like smashing things too.

The air smelled acrid and foul - like... burning flesh - and further investigation revealed the altar had recently been used in some sort of ritual sacrifice.

The Doctor scanned it with his sonic and hung his head.

When would anyone learn? Every species he encountered was guilty of it at some point, but it would never become easier to accept.

He had a moment of rage, in which he considered walking away right then and leaving these stupid, sparkly beings to rot in their idiocy, but as quickly as the anger had come, he remembered the Master and was overwhelmed with that age old feeling of regret and remorse. Would Koschei never stop dogging him? Would he never cease to bring him trouble and grief? No matter how many times he believed himself shut of him, no matter how often his oldest friend and enemy died, he always found a way. Always slithered his way back into his life like the snake he was. None of this had been possible without the Master's poisonous influence, so the Doctor steeled himself for confrontation.

"You murdered them," he said loudly to no one in particular.

The temple grew very quiet, those crying stifled their sobs, and those actively wrecking froze in place. They were like toddlers startled mid-tantrum by a very cross parent.

Lios spotted Clytie among the destroyers and she moved forward with her eyes on his face. He turned from her, keeping his expression neutral, and stared at the Doctor instead. He had been resolved to forgive; to acknowledge that his feelings of violation were to be laid at the door of another, but he knew what the blackened marks and the acrid smell meant as well as the Doctor. They had violently killed in revenge, and that he could not- would not ignore.

All life was sacred. It was one of the few beliefs he held sacrosanct, that he allowed to define him on the deepest level, and if taking it came so very easily to her, then he could not reconcile himself to a connection with her.

Perhaps it was this rejection which sparked a little fire back into the girl for she marched right up to the elder Time Lord with utter defiance in her every line, and spoke with no fear in her voice.

"Evil _deserves_ to die," she spat. "Had we not burned them, they would have fouled our very souls for eternity!" She pointed her golden finger in the direction of the altar and let her green eyes blaze, daring him to challenge her assertion.

"She was helpless and close to death." The rage he experienced at this proclamation was palpable, but he responded with cool incredulity, "How was that going to work exactly?"

"She would open Pandora's box! The marked girl's essence would be unbound and bring back the one that thing which brought ruination to our lands and doomed us all! Once the Child of Time was free, the Titans could be released again! We had to burn them all before they killed us, do you not see?" the woman stormed.

He, of course, wasn't daunted by her ire and shook his head. "Murder is murder. She deserved a trial and fair sentencing if you had to punish her. Wasn't her state for centuries punishment enough? You might've noticed how terrible her life had become. You might've had a little mercy, but you lot hadn't had enough bloodshed and violence, had you?" His voice was quiet but everyone in the room heard it keenly. "Well done. You now have a finite population and have just successfully diminished it further. Well done indeed."

"What is it to you, _Lord of Time?" _she hissed. "_Your_ people and _your_ war brought this suffering! What right have you to speak to us of bloodshed? We were a peaceful people before the other Lord of Time and devilry polluted our High Lady. _He_ is to blame for her death and the deaths of millions! Do not speak to me of trials and fairness! The High Lady and the priestesses were of Olympia, _not_ Gallifrey! And that _monstrosity_ should never have existed! We have done what we had the right to do!" Clytie railed and seized a nearby vase of yellow roses, hurling it to the ground where it shattered. This seemed to reanimate the room at large and the rest of the women began murmuring their agreement with the nymph.

"When you claim to know who should live and who should die, you have lost the most essential part of existence, the fallibility that keeps you compassionate," he admonished. "You're lost. All of you. And- and I pity you," he sighed heavily, "I hope one day you find your way. I'm finished here."

He motioned for the others to follow as he started back for the TARDIS, but the Omega stopped him with a hand on his arm. The Doctor searched the youngest man's face and saw his own conflict mirrored in the piercing blue eyes.

This was easy on no one, but Lios was not jaded in the way the Doctor had become over the centuries. He had no desire to just give up and walk away.

The Alpha stepped up beside her brother and threw her arms around the Doctor's neck.

It was the shock of the unprecedented affection which truly snapped him out of his fury and allowed him to absorb his own words.

She pulled away from him and looked him in the eyes with a softness he'd never seen. "_Fix_ it, Doctor," she whispered. "Be the Doctor, an' give 'em a way to heal."

He pulled her and her brother in for another embrace before pulling the loom schematics out of his coat pocket and striding to the blackened, oily altar where he lay the hope for their future on the remains of their past.

Without another word, the five interlopers left the Olympians to their grief and went back to the timeship where the Doctor didn't even wait for Jack to fully close the doors before starting the dematerialisation sequence and hurling them back into the vortex.

Lios announced without preamble - or a spare glance for anyone - that he would be fixing himself up in the infirmary, and refused each of their offers of assistance. His manner wasn't sullen, but his need to withdraw, reflect, and decompress _alone_ was overwhelming after the ordeal he'd endured.

Torin and Jack, not being introverts and needing company for the comfort they required to get over the experience, made for the galley and the reassuring normalcy of tea and biscuits, while the Alpha shifted from foot to foot and played with her layers, clearly wishing to speak but unable to find the words.

She needed to be _doing._

Doing _anything,_ though her pragmatism focused the inclination of said doing in a direction of arguably moral grey area.

"What is it, Selene Tyler?" the Doctor sighed impatiently.

The Doctor needed to tinker. He too needed to be doing - but withdraw, like Lios, and brood over the evils of existence. She clearly wanted to talk, and it left him with a dilemma for which he cared very little. He felt obliged not to undo the progress they'd made, however, he had no interest in rehashing their adventure and so snapped at her to make her back off.

"You look like a toddler who needs a toilet."

She huffed and stilled her fidgeting but remained quiet. She looked like she'd been kicked, and the guilt kept him from simply walking away and abandoning her to her machinations.

He let her stare at him in silence for a few minutes before trying again, more gently. "If you can't say it out loud, don't."

She screwed her face into a slightly pained expression, but projected her thoughts anyway.

_ I hate myself for even thinkin' it, but… I couldn't help noticin' we brought aboard, well, erm, everythin' we could need to… Am I a bad person for it? I know it's horrible, I do, but…_

"No, Tyler. The thought occurred to me too," he reassured. "I didn't want to bring it up just yet, but you'll find what you want in that cupboard there." He indicated a door leading to one of the many storage rooms across from the purple tree.

He was relieved that their goals, on multiple levels, coincided. They both were in the mood to fix rather than talk, and he didn't have to bring up the uncomfortable topic of the parts. Perhaps he'd just help her identify what she needed before leaving her to it.

Relief flooded her face, followed quickly by sheepish guilt. She swallowed and nodded.

"Let it go, Tyler. Make the decision, and let it go."

She nodded again and marched toward the storage access with determined purpose.

He helped her carry the parts to the door of her ship but remained outside as she moved everything in.

Eventually, she sighed impatiently and rolled her eyes.

"Doctor, jus' come in. 'M not gonna - er - well, I… Look, jus'… you can come in, alright?"

He stepped in tentatively, and began adding to the piles around the console.

She shot him a few furtive glances before saying to the room at large, "'S a fiddly bit near the bariophaser 's been doin' my head in. Could use a fresh pair of eyes, I reckon."

The Doctor tried to move to the console as casually as possible to hide the excitement he felt. Not only had she just invited him to actually _touch_ her ship - which he'd been positive she'd indefinitely forbid - but he was going to get his hands on a TT capsule which had been growing without the restrictive Time Lord influences. He'd never seen the insides of a TARDIS that hadn't been tampered with to comply with Gallifreyan law. It was a truly fascinating prospect.

With barely contained glee, he removed the grating and insinuated himself between the floor and the bariophaser.

After nearly an hour of quietly working side by side, they were both considerably more relaxed, and Selene went out to fetch a few more bobs from the storage.

Torin approached her with a mug of tea on her return trip. His face went from friendly and curious, to suspicious and outraged in no time flat.

"What're you doing?" he asked, making a herculean effort to keep the accusation out of his voice.

"Takin' these in, wha's it look like?" Her flippancy wasn't designed to test his limits, but rather to deflect her own self-recriminations, yet she both wildly succeeded in the former while failing spectacularly in the latter.

"It looks like those are pieces of the ship we just put to rest." The anger was cropping up despite his best efforts. "What are you doing with them?"

"Like I said, I'm taking them in," she huffed and walked in to their TARDIS with the Doctor inside, wading through the old pieces they'd acquired and discarding anything that was now superfluous due to the genuine TARDIS pieces they'd salvaged.

Torin charged in hot on her heels.

"You're not using those in here."

"I am though."

The Doctor wisely kept his head down.

"You're _not!_"

"Oh? An' why is tha' then, Beta?"

"You. Can't." Torin folded his arms across his chest and glared at the Alpha, daring her to just try contradicting his sense of what was right.

"I can, I have, an' I will," she stated bluntly, throwing his challenge right back in his petulant face.

It was shaping up to be a knock out, no holds barred, cage match and this was precisely how their major arguments inevitably went pear shaped. Selene insensitively dared his rebellion, Torin snapped at her bait, Selene punished his audacity, and Torin held a grudge. Only Lios could keep it from getting out of hand, and he was no where in the vicinity.

"That ship was tortured for hundreds of years, Alpha! Have a bit of compassion!"

"Oh, come off it, Torin, I do!" she cried, rounding on him defensively.

Internally she was squirming again, and she didn't need his judgement to make her feel worse than she did already.

"These parts are like long removed limbs tha' couldn't feel it, an' were jus' sittin' in bleedin' junk piles. Jus' like the markets we go to. You never moan like a damned prat about them."

_"They_ weren't ever _alive,_ Selene!"

"These parts aren't anymore either, an' haven't been in a long time!"

"It's totally different!" he insisted vehemently.

"No, Torin, it _isn't._ How's it any different from an organ donor then, eh?" She gave a tired sigh and met her brother's furious brown eyes with a weary plea in her own. "Even if we're not puttin' it in the same category as other ship parts, how's it any different from a new liver from a stranger if it's gonna keep this baby from dyin'? Answer tha' then."

"Would it be alright if you had your organs ripped out, your body mutilated, then all of it chucked in a bin for someone to find and decide it'd do quite nicely in someone else?"

"Well, I'd be dead or regenerated so, yeah, I probably couldn't be bothered."

"You're out of order, Selene, and you_ know_ it!"

"Oh, don't be stupid, Torin."

He gave a yell of frustration, walking a few steps away before rounding on her once more. "I swear, if you do this, I'll never set foot on this ship again, Selene."

"'S your choice, innit?" she sniffed stubbornly. "Abandon us. Go on. I can't force you to do anythin', can I?"

Torin stormed out without a backward glance at his shaking sister.

"I'm sure he didn't mean it," the Doctor comforted softly after a few beats of uncomfortable silence.

She shrugged half-heartsedly to cover her true feelings, and knitted her brows. Adrenaline pumped through her body and she was scared to death that her beloved brother meant every single word.

"He might. He's got options now an' all." She swallowed hard and shook her head to clear it and refocus. "'S alright. Can't help tha' I'm a pragmatist. Torin may be upset with me, but I'm not wrong. Not sayin' I'm right. Jus'… not wrong."

She buried herself under the exposed console and began installing the salvaged parts in question.

"It doesn't feel good to make hard decisions. For what it's worth, you made the smart decision and the one I'd have made myself." He settled down on a rolling dolly and followed suit.

"Yeah, 'cos you always make the best choices, don't you?" She fisted her eyes then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Sorry. Tha' was... Jus'...You're really not helpin'."

"Oi! I'm trying to comfort you!"

"Why? 'Cos I'm so little?" she jabbed. "Don't fret! Got my leather on now, 'm back to destroyin' all tha's fun an' happy."

"Selene Tyler, you're a barrel of - well, not laughs exactly, but something."

She smiled slightly, "I'm never gettin' you to call me anythin' else, am I?"

"Not a chance," the Doctor confirmed cheekily. "That is your name after all, though how that came to be I'll never understand. Selene? Lios? Torin? Your father and I couldn't have thought too much alike if you lot ended up being called that. Must've been residual Donna, or did your mother forbid his input?"

"Nah," she chuckled, grateful for the Doctor's intuitive change of subject. "Selene was a compromise."

The Doctor paused in his tinkering to shoot her a doubtful glance.

"Well, I s'pose tha's the nice way of puttin' it," she shrugged. "Apparently, there were rows. Mum wanted to call me Jacqueline after her mum-"

The Doctor made a horrified face.

"-but Dad insisted tha' no Time Lord or Lady in the history of existence was ever called _'Jackie'_ an' tha' wouldn't be changin'. He wanted to name me for your granddaughter; said Arkytior was right proper since it also roughly means Rose. Mum said there had to've been a reason she went by Susan instead. Wha'd they call me casually? Arky? Tior? _Ti-ti?" _she chuckled, "_Tha'_ was bad, she said, tha's wha' you _do_ in the loo when you're a little girl, not wha' you_ call_ a little girl."

The Doctor scowled and fiddled petulantly with his sonic.

"So, after a suitable amount of sleepin' in the lounge, Dad suggested Selenialatovara an' Mum shortened it. A lot. Li's name's a similar story. Heliosdanaritaxicor got cut into Lios. Torin Mum chose. She insisted to Dad tha' it was an Irish name she liked the meanin' of, but she told us later tha' it's really Tony, Peter, and Jacqueline all smashed together."

The Doctor felt a stab of jealousy that he hadn't been the one actually having the naming argument, lounge banishment and all.

It was, of course, exactly what he would have said - even loved both the names Selenialatovara and Heliosdanaritaxicor as they were the names of the twin suns on Gallifrey - and he was irritated, and not a little offended by Rose's arguments against Arkytior, which was one of the most beautiful names he could imagine.

But Time Lady _Jackie?_ He reminded himself to have a poke at Rose about that one when he could.

"Lady Selenialatovara, eh?"

"I fully regret tellin' you already."

"It's lovely!" he insisted. "And it's you. Get too close and you'll be incinerated." He grinned for all the world like he'd made the funniest joke in the universe. When she didn't laugh, he asked, "You do know what it means?"

"Ye-p. Still, not my name."

"But-"

"_Never._ It's the Alpha, an' don't you forget it."

"That's my girl."

She shook her head and smiled, indulging him. "D'you know, I'd probably've chucked somethin' at you if you'd said tha' yesterday?"

"What happened to hating me after taking me for my tenner?"

She hesitated a moment, stopping her soldering with her sonic, and stared at her idle hands. "Doctor…"

"There's really no need, Selene Tyler," he assured, keeping his eyes on the loose connections before him. "You don't have to say anything."

"Yeah… But…"

"Really, it's okay."

"Yeah… It isn't." She wasn't proud of herself, and had to at least acknowledge it. "But I appreciate it all the same. Not tha' great with words after all, me. I mean, I can talk. I can talk people blue in the face, but…"

"Believe me, I understand."

She chuckled. "Yeah… Still… I'm… I'm glad you found us. You're… you… you're not a bad man, an'... maybe even a good one."

The Doctor remained silent, focusing on the gravitational flex capacitor he was wiring, but smiled inwardly. "Hand me the bit of wire there, will you?"

"'S closer to you, shiftless."

She stood and brought the coil of living wire to him anyway.

"When my mum comes back, wha're you gonna do?"

He remained silent.

She hooked her foot under the primitive dolly he was lying on and rolled him back out. She bored holes into him with her honey coloured eyes.

"What?" He cocked his head and frowned.

What did that have to do with anything really? And what was this? Jackie Tyler reincarnated?_ Time Lady Jackie, indeed._ He half worried she'd slap him if he said the wrong thing.

His panic must have been evident on his face because she laughed and relaxed a bit. "Gormless, I'm not… I'm not attackin' you, jus'... well, you're bad with words, yeah? Like me? Better with a plan than words then too, I'd wager, so make one 'cos she's comin' back as soon as I can manage it." The fires of determination were ablaze in her gaze. "She's spent nearly two hundred hard years without you - er - this you, yeah? An' a century with jus' us, so she's not the naïve girl from a London shop you ran 'round with. Well, you're both different, an' if tha' matters to you-"

"It doesn't."

He started to wheel himself back under but she stuck her boot out again.

"Shut up a minute," she insisted with fused brows. "If tha' matters to you - an' you oughtta think about it, an' hard too, 'cos if you muck it up an' make my mum sad again, I _will_ destroy you - er, sorry, this's really me bein' friendly, I swear - but if it matters I wanna be able to tell her 'fore she goes runnin' to find you. I mean, we never talked about it, but I know my mum never got over- well, I mean, maybe she's got her own things to work out, but I _think_ she er- an' I know _you_ got married an' all-" her confidence steadily wilted, "Dad told us 'bout River Song - an' no one, not even Mum, would blame you-"

"Alpha…"

"- if the part of your life tha' Rose Tyler fit in to was over, or you'd moved on an' changed, or healed, or wha'ever. Tha's wha' happens sometimes, y'know, with life an' all. 'S why I keep sayin' you're not under any obligation here - er - I jus' want to make sure you're sure-"

"Tyler."

"- tha' you can do it - if you wanted to, of course. You're not gonna change your mind later because everythin's so different an', I dunno, leave her somewhere on a beach or somethin' - _I swear, if we have to go pick her up on a beach, I'll strangle you, I will._ I'd've strangled Dad too, so don't feel special, jus' tha's my mum, an' she's too forgivin' for her own good sometimes. So, yeah, make a plan an'-"

"Selene!"

"Wha'?"

"I'm sure. Whether or not she'll want_ me_ is entirely another matter -" he swallowed audibly, "- and a slightly very frightening one at that, I mean, I look… different, and I-I know I've gone through a regeneration with her before, but, well, you just never know if new personality quirks - but I've had quite a long time to think about it, alright? You don't know how often I wanted to strangle _myself_ for being an idiot, or cross my own timeline and rewrite the past - how often I've been just a flip of a switch away from doing just that, actually-"

"God, we're a hopeless bunch, aren't we?"

"-or from posing as a maths tutor and going to see her when she was still in school, or just jumping in when I knew I'd swanned off and left her at her mum's for a while. Point is, I'm_ sure._ I don't care how much older she is. I don't care that she's different. Sure, we'll need to, well, reacquaint ourselves, but... I'm sure. Surer than sure even. Completely positive. No misgivings."

"Tha's wha' worries me! You've this perfect fantasy in your head!"

He grinned and closed his eyes conjuring up Rose Tyler's face in his mind as he lay in front of the young woman and her young console.

"Fantasy could never touch the reality of Rose Tyler, my dear," he breathed.

Of course it couldn't. She radiated good, wonderful, impossible things. That woman took in the time vortex and lived - not only lived, but saved him and the Earth while apparently designing a sustainable living paradox by creating her own existence! She sacrificed herself to save the world again at Canary Wharf, and should have stayed lost, but still she crossed the void to save him and the universe, only to have that very action become the catalyst with which she might have saved his entire species with these three!

"Also, she's one helluva kisser."

Oh. He'd said that last bit out loud, hadn't he?

Still, he couldn't stop himself and added, "Seriously. _Yowzah." _

She cringed.

"Oh, grow up and stop pulling faces or it might stay that way. Do you honestly think fantasies and memories could ever do her justice even in my frankly magnificent brain?"

"No." She smiled, apparently satisfied. "I really don't, but I wanted to make sure 'cos, well, before with you an' all- an' it's my mum. Carry on then. My ship won't fix herself yet, old man." She wafted a limp hand at him to shoo him away.

He chuckled and shot her a dazzling grin.

"You like me."

He rolled himself back under so that his legs were the only thing visible but the grin didn't fade.

"Shut up." She strode back to the area where she'd been working and set to stripping wires.

"No! You _do!" _he pushed, giddy with his new discovery. "You like me, Selenialatovara Arkytior Ty-_Yow!_"

She'd thrown a spanner and hit him on the thigh just above the knee.

He jerked and knocked his forehead on the bariophaser above him. He rubbed at the injured area and winced. "Abusive! That's elder abuse, that is!"

"Don't ever call me tha' again. Makes me sound so-"

"Time Lady-ish?" He grinned unabashedly. "Could've said Selenialatovara Arkytior of the Exalted Prydonian House of Lungbarrow and really slathered on the _eugh._ Though, I suppose, since you weren't loomed from it, you wouldn't _technically_-"

"Lungbarrow? 'S tha' like your actual las' name then?"

"No, er - no. How do you not know this? Your father never explained it?"

She shook her head and shrugged, "Not exactly important tha', is it? Not compared to learnin' the complexities of time and spacial manipulation without the aid of a wormhole, or High Gallifreyan, or the correct temperature to solder livin' wire without killin' or injurin' it. His name was jus' Dad, or the Doctor, or John Noble-Smith to me," though her tone remained matter-of-fact, he could sense her anguish just under the surface, "an' he died when I was twenty-six. Was jus' a Time Tot then, really. I got more of his - er, your - stories from Mum than he had time to tell."

"Well, Lungbarrow is not a name in the way that humans use names - the way that you and your brothers are named," he elaborated. "No one has ever called me Theta Sigma Lungbarrow-"

_"Theta Sigma?_ You're literally called Nine Two Hundred? Someone actually named you Theta Sigma, and you're takin' the piss about _almost_ being named for a_ star?"_

"Oh, shut up," he scowled, "like I haven't had the piss taken my entire life about it. Like you, I chose my own name, thanks, and no one but my codgery brother calls me Theta anymore- called. Called me. Right. Now, do you want to know, or not?"

She raised her hands and lowered her head in apology.

"Lungbarrow is the house to which I belonged. Sort of like a family name, but not at all, actually, because families were much different among Time Lords. Love and family units were considered silly and sentimental. Less family the way you know it, more political and social connections, most often within the same house for - er - genetic purity."

"How very aristocratic. And… Ew."

"You've been around too many humans. The 'ew' wasn't..." He chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair. "But the aristocracy... yes. Exactly. A whole society of aristocratic snootiness and rules. I make it look like fun, you know, but it was fairly sterile. And boring, to be honest. Feeling sentimental and passionate about - er - much landed me in trouble. Often. Got chucked out, more than once, actually, even though later they… Well, it doesn't matter now."

Thinking of being ostracised, and even banished, had never bothered him much until there was no longer a home planet from which to be barred.

Still, he travelled everywhere with a little piece of home. It could be worse.

Well, no, not really - not for him anyway, not much. Could've been _much_ worse for the universe though.

And that _was_ worse, of course. No universe, no Rose Tyler and her wonderfully impossible offspring.

He could carry the enormity of what he'd done for this to be possible, right now.

"You should have seen what they made us wear to High Council meetings. Puts anything the Earth Royals wore at court to shame, and not because it looked smart. Bloody uncomfortable, and for a pragmatic society, utterly ridiculous. Time Lords loved their pomp. All in all, I was glad when they chucked me out - er - the last time."

"Hm. Interestin'," she returned thoughtfully. "Stories I got 'bout Gallifrey were usually at Academy, settin' the professors in time loops to skive an' whatnot. Or drinkin' with Koschei an' the Shobogans... _Theta Sigma?"_

"Shut up..."

"Do… er... no, never mind."

"Go on."

"Nah, forget it, 's daft."

He looked at her with genuine curiosity. "No, go on. I'm all ears."

"Tha's Torin. You're all chin."

"Oi! _Eyebrows!"_

"Do we have brothers or sisters? Or, I mean, not, no - er - do you have children?"

"None living."

"Right. Sorry. Bad. Yeah. Told you it was stupid. Sorry."

"It's alright. It's only natural to be curious."

"I was jus' wonderin'," she shook her head and fumbled awkwardly with her scarf, "with River Song an' all. Could be. Could've been. Maybe. Apparently not. Forget it." She became very engrossed in finding a setting on her sonic.

"No, actually. Not possible." He too found his sonic screwdriver unusually interesting. "At all. Gallifreyans were - er - are - no - _were_ sterile. We used looms. Hence the looming houses and my having the schematics. Again, how do you not know this?"

She shrugged at him and cocked her head slightly.

"But there _was_ an - er - incident on Messaline with a progenation machine... years ago, and… Dunno if you knew about… but she died. Jenny, her name was. Jenny. But she died. I had children on Gallifrey of course - er, looms and all - and grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, but… And River and I… even if we could've done - er… had children that is… I mean, with adventures, and end of existence, and sightseeing… well, we snogged a fair bit, but never… _Why am I telling you this?_"

_ "Never?" _Her jaw could've hit the floor._  
_

"Does it matter?" he shot back in uncomfortable irritation. "I mean, why _would_ we? Even Rose and I never…"

"Why _wouldn't_ you? You were _married_ you utterly daft git!"

"In an abandoned timeline!"

"Who cares? You still went through with it! Why not enjoy the perks?"

She scooted over to his part of the console and began fiddling with the connections he had forgotten, her amused interest quite peaked but refraining from teasing too much as he was clearly sensitive about the subject.

"Weren't you just making faces about me _snogging_ your mum?"

"'S different," she chuckled. "I don't wanna know how _nice_ it was with _my mum._ An' you _yowzed._ You actually said the word '_yowzah_' without bein' ironic. You _meant_ to say _yowzah._ Who does tha'? No, I'm sayin' you're a stonkin' idiot for marryin' someone an' still actin' like a monk, Dum-dum."

"Well, it's complicated!"

"Not really, unless you've got a weird quirk with this new body tha'- actually," she paused and made a face, "really, I honestly don't need or wanna know 'bout, ta."

"What? No!" he backpedaled. "You've spent far too much time with Jack. It's just complicated with the…" He fidgeted and rolled his eyes in the direction of his forehead.

"Telepathic link? Wha', really?"

He couldn't understand her total lack of embarrassment in this conversation which made him want to die and not regenerate.

"Too much skin on skin, eh? Wha're you embarrassed? Got somethin' you don't want anyone to-" her gleeful face fell for a moment, "-oh. Right. Yeah, I guess tha' makes a bit of sense then. Still, you can't block it or jus' maybe, I dunno," the superior smirk reappeared in full force, "_multitask?_ An' you a genius? Oh, look at you blush an' squirm! You are repressed, you are!"

He glowered at her smug demeanour. He was the master of himself like any self-respecting- "I'll have you know that Time Lords-"

"Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah."

"Blimey, you're rude."

"Time Lords are s'posed to be above all the physical rubbish, I get it, alright?"

"Well, it's true."

"Ye-p!"

He really wished she'd stop grinning at him like that.

"'S why my sonic has a soundproofin' settin', innit?"

He choked and coughed.

"Dad jus' programmed tha' in there on the off-chance he might need it someday... _for repairs._"

She shook her head knowingly and aimed her sonic on its soundproofing setting at his face and pushed the button, bathing him in blue glow.

He childishly retaliated with his own, lighting her face in green.

"I'll have you know, that's a useful setting for - er - loads of-"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Look, you couldn't possibly understand without growing up in the culture."

She huffed. He'd touched a nerve, but he wasn't going to have the last word.

"Even you, oh, _proper_ Time Lord of Gallifrey, cannot deny you've at least wanted to, an' I know for a fact you have at some point in your, rather vast, history."

He opened his mouth to object, but she talked right over him.

"_'Been around 900 years, me. I think you can assume, at some point, I've danced.'_ Ring any bells?"

"Why you little- Why do you keep- It's completely unfair- How are you doing that?"

"Wha'?"

"That thing with the quoting and face-throwing!"

The jovial expression became a mask of mirth which did not touch her eyes. She shrugged, "I... I shared my body an' mind with my mum briefly when..." she fidgeted. "Mostly, I don't look at any of it - 's not mine - but I can't help sometimes when they pop up."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," she grimaced, a bit of warmth returning despite the awful face. "It's usually jus' when you're talkin' absolute gobshite."

"Oi!"

"Oi yourself, I'm not the one insistin' married people don't shag."

"I never-"

"Add to tha' I'm _livin' proof_ the thought _occurs_ to you - an' don't go blamin' tha' on his humanity. The thought occurs to you, an' why shouldn' it? It's bloody good fun."

He couldn't help laughing in surprise, then turned it into a cough and a scowl. "You're too young to understand. I've got over a thousand years of dark memories, and you didn't grow up with the taboo, did you? Hard to get over, you know."

"No, I don't. Don't fancy knowin' either." She sighed, "I may not be a proper, Academy certified Lady o' Time, but I don't need to be to know when I'm right." She grinned smugly. "Jus' sayin' you're daft. Mum's seen most of tha' stuff in your head before, an' if you stay celibate 'cos you're a _Time Lord_, it'd be ridiculous."

"_Why_ am I talking about this with you?" He narrowed his eyes a second, then looked back at the wires he was meant to be soldering and pushed back at his fringe.

These were things he never talked about, even with Amy, but apparently here he was lying under a console, not his own, and discussing… with…?

It wasn't happening.

Had he actually died on Rodan IV, and this was some sort of strange limbo where he was in the midst of a crazy dream born of loneliness in the universe?

Or had he stopped just threatening to go over the edge, and was finally completely mental?

"I want my mum to be happy," she replied simply with her brows knitted, and her eyes far away. "We can't chat like mates?"

Her eyebrows shot up toward her hairline, then they sank back down and knitted together again.

"Is this not how mates chat? Never really had one before, outside of Jack, 'cos Torin an' Li don't count. How do mates chat then? I mean, I'm not sayin' we're mates..."

The brows shot back up.

"Only, I dunno, maybe I wouldn't hate tha'."

She didn't look at him, but screwed up her face and cocked her head as if the idea was doing her head in.

"No! Yes!" he agreed quickly, in case she decided to change her mind. "Mates. Yes. That's okay. Er - good even... but it's _you!_ We're talking about - and you're _her_ \- and _you_ don't… er, _haven't_…? Or want… to do… well, those things… do you? Not that I have any right to - er - I mean, I'm not telling you not to, but, it's not like you've got a regular bloke, you know, and you're just, well, you're awfully young! _Too_ young!"

She was too. Barely an adult. Preposterous.

"Oi!" She giggled, then caught herself, and feigned an offended look. "You didn't mind when my brothers were runnin' 'round tryin' to chat up those Olympian birds, did you? 'S alright for the Lords, but not the Ladies, eh? Come on, Doctor, I'm 127, not a child! _An'_ I've even regenerated already! You don't think in 127 years-"

"No!" He threw his hands up, nearly losing his grip on his sonic, and rolled out from under the console. "Really, I don't want to know! Actually, never tell me, thanks. You're… There are some things I can't… Just, well, just _not_ Harkness, right? Because I've wanted to chuck him into the vortex f- er… No. Never mind. Just, no."

He pushed his fringe back and began wringing his hands.

She laughed uproariously. "Keep makin' tha' face an' it'll stay tha' way. Really, you wouldn't want tha', 's bad enough already."

"Mates, eh?" He furrowed his non-brows, and looked at her curiously.

"Shut it." She crawled back under the console and busied her hands.

"Mates."

"Wha's with tha' face you're makin'? Wha' d'you wanna say then?"

"Nothing! Nothing, really."

"Doctor, wha'?" she asked between bouts of sonic whirring.

"Really! It's nothing, mate."

He wasn't sure why it bothered him. He wasn't sure if he wanted her to see him as an adviser, or at least someone to be respected, or if it was something else. Of course, mates was a decided improvement from even two days before, but it levelled their playing field too much. Not that he had a problem being equal with others… but he was generally in a position of authority or influence, even amongst friends, and she really didn't seem to care about that. She was headstrong, and he wanted to be able to teach her. That must've been it.

"Better'n bein' jus' some bloody prat I hate, innit?"

She rolled her eyes, and peered at him from her position below, but her expression was not unkind.

"Look, you're not my dad, an' not my captain, are you? Not really. I mean, you didn't change nappies for years, or teach me to fly, or hire me as crew, so I can't think of you tha' way, but we can be friends jus' the same, an' maybe tha's better, yeah? Can talk more openly with a mate... an' you won't have any responsibility toward me."

Her eyes had gone a bit steely again. It was a bitter change from the warmth he had so recently found.

"I can take care of myself, y'know, an' them too 'cos I am dead clever an' all. We all are. We're alright. We're always alright."

She shook her head as if to clear it. A bit of warmth returned and she grinned charmingly.

"So, I'll be able to shag who I want an' you won't have to kill 'em, yeah?"

He sighed and tugged at his tie. "Can you just leave off the shagging bit? I don't want to know!"

"You don't… er… feel like you're - er - our dad… do you? Tha's not somethin' you _want_… right?"

He didn't say anything for a minute. "Yes. No! Er… I don't know what… I… I don't know."

"Well, we should jus' leave it, yeah? 'S not complicated this way, an' we won't have to row - er - as much."

"Do you realise we haven't shouted at each other in days?"

"Oh, well, tha'll never do, let's fix tha' then." She started to haul herself from her spot in mock preparation.

"Well, you did throw a spanner at me. I think that means we can skip it this time, full stop."

He stood up, dusted himself off, and straightened his bow-tie.

"Back in a tick. I'm going to see how your brother is fairing with the skin grafter in the med-bay."

"Ye-p. Go on then, you're bein' useless anyway. Out."

They grinned at each other, and he made his way back to his own ship.

.


	18. Such Sweet Sorrow

_**A/N: **_**I do not own Doctor Who not profit from the writing of this story.**

**Second chapter I'm posting today! Since life is settling back down after the holidays, I'll be updating regularly again!**

**Mea Culpa Maxima. Mea Maxima, Maxima Culpa. - When I type this I'm totally singing the Judge's Johanna bit from Sweeney Todd... I do mean it though. My apologies are merited because...  
**

**It hurts my feelings doing this to them, but it is so necessary.**

**I promise everything is playing out as it needs to to preserve timelines.**

**I feel evil for even typing that. Not Moffat GITF evil, but evil just the same.**

* * *

He found Lios examining the newly healed skin on his torso, which still looked pink and a bit angry. The young man looked up at his entrance and hastily started donning the clothing piled on the gurney next to him.

"Wait a tick! If you don't mind, I'd like to have a look."

Lios was not yet ready for company.

Ideally, he'd have liked a day on his own rather than a few hours to process the current state his life. Plenty of experiences needed compartmentalisation, and he needed to wade through more than his share of revelations regarding his values and priorities.

In short, he just wasn't ready to face the Doctor and keep his emotions in cheque.

"I'm fine. All healed," he replied as he buckled his trousers, not looking at the Doctor.

"Used a dermal generator before?"

"No, but I figured it out."

"Let me have a look then."

"It's fine, honestly."

"Why does everyone assume Doctor is just a name?" the Doctor groused, all indignant pout and flapping hands. "It's like telling people not to wander off, they never listen when I say, 'I'm a doctor.' I _am_ a doctor, Lios, or, well, no... not of medicine per se, but with as much as I've seen and done, I _am_ as qualified as any MD, and I'd like the piece of mind a proper examination will give," he said taking the younger man by the arm and guiding him onto the gurney. "Last thing either of us needs is your sister going mental because you went septic when I could've prevented it."

Lios shifted uncomfortably for a moment, then seemed to come to some internal resolution, and shrugged, lying back.

He appeared to have done a decent job of repairing the wounds on his torso, but the areas harder to reach were left only half healed.

The Doctor retrieved the instrument and set about finishing them off.

"It'll heal itself in a few days…" he mumbled half-heartsedly.

The Doctor ignored him and continued his ministrations. He had finished the right shoulder and arm after a few minutes of silence then made his way to the other side of the bed.

"So, Heliosdanaritaxicor, tell me about the nymph."

Lios went very red all the way to the tips of his ears and shrugged, "Nothing to tell. I let her pretty face cloud my judgement. Won't happen again."

He just wasn't ready to talk, and the pushing would either shut him down completely, or make him spill his guts entirely. He wasn't certain which he preferred.

While the Doctor had an easy time reading these things on his volatile sister, Lios was a closed book when it came to the way he dealt with stress. Lios smiled in the right places, kept his temper, and was not talkative as a rule. The young man was generally gentle, so the Doctor had no idea he was pushing too hard.

"Ah, but where is the fun in that? It's all over, isn't it? No harm done on your part, and what an…"

The Doctor had fixed his eyes on the gold markings on the young man's arm. His face was inscrutable but the torrents behind his green eyes were not lost on the observant young man.

Lios knew it had been coming, and perhaps, welcomed the release the inevitable blow-up would provide, so he waited for the older man's reaction.

"An adventure," the Doctor continued, his face becoming a mask of frivolity. "Sorry. Yes, quite the adventure. Your brother is quite angry with your sister, though. Might need a little intervening. I'd offer, but I think reason and pragmatism isn't what Torin needs right now. Perhaps you should go find him when we're all done here."

He went back to his task with a blithe, I'm-the-Mad-Man-with-a-Box-and-Nothing-Bothers-Me smile which didn't reach his ancient green eyes.

"You're not going to say _anything?"_ he snapped with not a little frustrated disappointment. Lios wanted to row- _needed_ the row at that point.

"No, I rather think Selene has the right of it," the Doctor hedged, "but that's because I'm very pragmatic myself. You see, Torin is upset that-"

_ "That's not what I meant!"_

"Oh?" The Doctor sighed and looked very old, and very tired as he looked into the stormy blue ones. "You'd tell me if I asked? Your sister hasn't forbidden it? It's the reason you didn't want my help, obviously. Getting you lot to open up has proven exceedingly difficult so far."

The wind abruptly left the young man's sails.

"Selene is scared you'll chuck us out."

The Doctor furrowed his brows, what kind of monster did she believe he was?

Was he really that bad?

Maybe he was.

He hadn't exactly had a smooth relationship with her, and perhaps he might have reacted badly at first… but no, no, he felt stung by this unfair belief she harboured, and how very little she trusted him.

"Lios Tyler, I know where you come from, why should this be so shocking? And why would I ever chuck you out? That's a bit insulting, really."

"Doctor…"

"I know she doesn't trust me, and to be honest, I don't blame her. She's been scared and protective and I'm… I've… I'm…"

"Doctor, she-"

"No, it's alright, actually. Were I her, I would probably do the same, honestly, and I just have to learn to forgive that quality in her."

"Doctor, she's-"

"Really you don't have to try to make peace between us. I'm not angry. Er - well, not very angry - I'll get over it. I won't even mention it to her. This is what happened when you looked into the Untempered Schism, isn't it?"

"Yes, but, Doctor-"

"You all have them then? Same place?" He sighed, "I wish I'd taken more time to understand this Bad Wolf business. Just when I think some strange chapter in my life has finished, it comes right back. Of course, it is hard to leave behind something which was scattered through space and time specifically to follow you. I'm sorry I caused this, Lios. I really am."

"Doctor! It isn't your fault! Please! Don't start that."

"You're a good man, Heliosdanaritaxicor, but yes, it is. I'm not saying I regret having you here, but if I'd never meddled in your mum's life, this wouldn't be happening. Have you lot figured it out then? Are you willing to share with an old man?"

"No, we haven't, not exactly, not fully, no matter what the Alpha thinks, and I'm gonna bloody _murder_ Torin for spilling that name to you. But, Doct-"

"Ah, but it's Selenialatovara Tyler you'll be murdering, not Torin Tyler, whose short but brilliant name is apparently an homage Tyler kind everywhere." The Doctor smiled warmly at him and gestured toward his arm for permission to examine it more closely.

Lios nodded and opened his mouth to speak, then snapped it shut and drew his blonde brows together. He held his arm out and let his internal debate swing once again.

"Lios?" the old man hesitated. "I'm going to do something right now that I almost never do on principle. Well, while I say almost never, I really can't recall the last time I did, but that's hardly surprising."

The Doctor traced the golden writing with a finger for a moment before scanning it with his screwdriver. Plenty of tests were viable options - and he'd run them all - but basics were always a good place to start.

"Where was I? Oh, yes! I'm going to ask you for advice. You're cautious, and I'm not. Well, no, I am, very extremely cautious about somethings, but I've cocked up enough so far so… er… I mean, I'm in considerably new territory here after all, and the last thing I want is to undo the progress I've made," he smiled a little bitterly and tried to catch his patient's eye, but Lios was staring firmly at the marking and refusing to make eye contact, "and, well," the Doctor continued hopefully, "you know her, and honestly seem to handle her better than anyone."

Lios still would not look at him, but his words seemed to make the boy crumble behind his stormy blues.

"Should I confront her?" the Doctor carefully posed, understanding finally what a vulnerable state the young man was in. "How... How serious is this? What can you tell me? Would you rather I just had it out with her and left you out of the middle? I'm… I'm at a bit of a loss, you see. I'm tired of rowing with her, and she always seems to be able to avoid whatever she doesn't want to share anyway. She's very frustrating."

"Selene…" he half whispered, "Doctor, she's my sister. She's…"

"Yes! No, I know! And I understand if you'd rather not get involved in it. I'll just leave it then."

"No!" he yelped, his voice returning in force. "Doctor- She's-Doctor, I love my sister and I want to keep her safe. She's - I can't - But she's - God! She's so stubborn - and infuriating!"

"Well, yes, just said so myself, didn't I?"

"She won't let anyone help her, and she's so goddamn self-righteous that she probably never will!"

"Well, I-"

"But she's my _sister!_ My only sister! My big sister and my protector! She's part of what makes me whole, do you understand? Sh-She's taken care of us and sacrificed so much so that we wouldn't have to! She's dedicated and loyal! She's a good person, Doctor! She is! She doesn't deserve… this…"

He tore at his pointy blonde hair and let out a gruff cry of frustration.

"Alright! Alright! I'll back off!"

"No! This _life,_ I mean, or me _utterly_ betraying her right now-"

"Hold on a minute! Don't beat yourself up!"

"-but, you- someone has to say something! Someone has to help her! Please! She's my sister! Promise me that you'll help her?"

He grabbed the Doctor's tweed coat and clutched at it like a lifeline.

"I-I'll do whatever I can, you know I'll-"

"Promise me," he shook the old man in his grip slightly, "you won't get angry at her and refuse once she's blown her top - 'cos she will! Oh, God! She will! She's not even going to speak to me for…"

The Doctor put his hands over Li's and gently eased his vise-grip from his coat. Lios looked down at his hands before dropping his head into them.

"...well, if you can help her, it'll be worth it." His voice was muffled between his fingers, but the agony was crystal. "There's always a price isn't there? A price for what's right. If the price for her life is my betrayal, then I have to pay it, don't I? Torin doesn't understand, but I do! I can't ignore it all because I prefer things cozy."

"Alright, keep calm!" the Doctor placated and rested a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Back up a bit. What am I missing? Why doesn't she want help? What do you mean?"

He raised his head from his hands and met the Doctor's eyes with determination. "The markings. Selene is co-"

"Wha' now? I'm wha?"

She stood in the doorway with her face a mask of calm and ease, but Lios looked horror-stricken and his words died in his throat.

"Omega, wha' were you sayin'? The Doctor's waitin'."

The Doctor observed as the two siblings stared at each other in the tense silence, the Alpha challenging and the Omega pleading but not lowering his gaze.

He decided it was up to him. "Alpha," he began in order to keep from further antagonising her, "would you mind showing me your arm? I wish you'd have told me about this, but I'm not angry with you."

He took a single step in her direction, but halted when she mirrored his step forward with a step back.

He put up his hands and moved back again.

"I knew you were keeping something from me, and honestly, I thought you'd give me more credit than this. I knew you lot were closely tied to Bad Wolf. You have nothing to worry about from me."

She continued her unblinking showdown with Lios, all but ignoring the Doctor and his assurances.

"Please," he pleaded, hoping against all odds for peace and resolution between them, "let's just move forward from here. May I see your arm?"

She looked away from Lios and let her eyes bore into the Doctor's.

Hard and cold as ice, all fire absent, she was being exceptionally hard to read. She wasn't displaying any of her usual signs of agitation like fidgeting from foot to foot, nor was she faffing about with her layers. No exasperated huff escaped her lips, and for once, her brows stayed smooth and separated.

She looked less like a huffy know-it-all, and more like a woman who had lived over a century. Her eyes expressed utter weariness, resolve, and sadness with a hint of regret.

"Las' bit's in," she said finally, but didn't take her eyes away from his. "I'm gonna try to power her up with the little channeller. Thought maybe we'd do it together, but maybe 's not such a good idea after all. Li still looks like he could do with a bit of help. I'll jus' be headin' back."

They were both startled from their silent disagreement by the clattering of metal on the floor.

Lios had jumped off the gurney, knocking the dermal generator to the floor, and was advancing on his sister with helpless frustration clearly written all over him.

He reached out and seized her muffler as she stepped back toward the corridor.

She had a stern warning on her face, and he, desperation and apology.

The bare-footed young man, in only a hospital gown and trousers, moved closer and obscured her from the Doctor's view.

"Li, _please,_" she begged.

Though he couldn't see her, the Doctor could hear her torment and moved forward to intervene. Surely, they all could work through this without so much agony?

Amber eyes locked with blue. Love filled both, and for a fraction of a moment, the air cleared and brother and sister were united once more.

Then his face hardened and he tugged.

The red bit of fabric fell away, but by the time it hit the floor, she had taken off with speed and silence back the way she'd come.

Lios hung his head in shame as he stifled a sob. He bent to pick up the discarded muffler then stared at it in his hands.

"She's got them everywhere," he whispered sadly. "The words. It's not just her arm. She keeps covered, but they come almost all the way to her chin. Torin… Torin and I... it's our arms and the Bad Wolf… Not her… Hers are… so much worse... She's… Doctor, please… please, help her…"

He stood in the doorway, holding the red bit of cloth, tears streaming down his cheeks, and had never felt so ashamed and alone.

"I don't want my sister to die, Doctor. Nothing is worth that. Not some planet or… anyone, I don't care how that sounds."

The Doctor, too, felt frozen in place. He'd been there for two rather major fights between brother and sister and hadn't a clue how to fix any of it. Normally he'd suggest they go for a trip and hope it worked itself out, but he had an inkling the root of the issue was much deeper than a few hurt feelings. He was still foggy on exactly what had happened and why. Lios was pleading for Selene's life, and it made no sense at all.

"Please," he pleaded again. "She's not a pawn for the universe to play games with. She's my sister… my sister…" Lios swallowed the hard lump in his throat but couldn't look up from his toes.

The Doctor finally unglued himself from the spot where he'd frozen and moved to take Lios by the shoulders. He waited until the young man could finally look him in the face before speaking.

"Have you seen them all?"

Again, Lios found the floor irresistible to look away from.

"No. Yes. Not exactly. I've seen them all written down, but they're so hard to decipher. They could mean so many things... Please."

"I'm not going to let anything happen to your sister, calm down." He pulled the boy in for a desperately needed hug, then moved back to try and catch his eyes again. "Tell me what you know, and what you think you know. Tell me everything."

The TARDIS prodded him to get his attention but he studiously ignored it as he focused on the youngest of the children.

"I will. Please, give her one more chance, though?" He finally looked up at the Doctor. "To tell you herself, I mean. She's got them all written down, and maybe she'll even give that to you. If not, I'll get them, but, please, it's important that it's on her terms as much as possible now."

The Doctor shook his head and smiled sadly. "She won't, but I'll make the effort - er… Should I go alone?"

Lios seemed to shrink to half his considerable size. "She won't want to see me for a while. She's really upset. I mean, really upset. Shut down our connection and everything."

The Doctor reached out for her presence himself and found nothing. She was barring everyone. Not exactly hopeful.

"Understood. Hey," he stopped on his way out and put a hand on the young man's shoulder.

The look in his eyes spoke of guilt, panic, and immense pain. He pulled the boy in for another hug and found himself being clutched like a life-preserver.

"Calm down," he soothed. "It's gonna be alright. Really, it is. At least the secret is out, right? That's always the worst of it. Now we can sort out this mess, alright? You did what you had to do. Maybe it doesn't seem like the right thing right now, but sometimes the right choices feel wrong, or too hard to make. I was just talking to your sister about that, actually."

"When we do this to each other it hurts, physically and everything," he confessed pointing to his head as he pulled away from the hug. "For her too and she's doing it anyway. It's just… if we lost her for real… I'm such a prat. I just should've tried harder with her."

"Oi," the Doctor interjected firmly. "None of that, Lios Tyler, she's going to forgive you. She'll have a fantastic shout at me, we are overdue after all, and I'll make sure she gets it all out. Leave it to the Doctor, eh?"

The ship gave him another impatient prod that he pushed aside. He was going already!

"Doctor… I… I am…I can't… Thank you."

He nodded compassionately, and set off for the young TT capsule in which he was sure to find the Alpha hiding out.

Hopefully, he'd be able to get back in.

He had a feeling, even if she had locked it, he would no longer be denied access by Torin or Lios.

After a few minutes of meandering slowly to gather his thoughts, the TARDIS moved the console room just to the end of the hall. That was helpful, and he thanked her silently, even if she was nagging him to hurry up as he plodded and mulled over how to approach the surly woman who hated to be less than perfect and right, but admitted talking wasn't her forte.

Only, when he arrived in the console room, the TARDIS that had been pretending to be a tree was conspicuously absent.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

She must have fixed its cloaking device.

He wasn't going to let her childish antics affect him, however. He was going to be the essence of patience and wisdom. He was going to break through to her, and fix everything because, as she had pointed out the day before, he was the madman in a blue box who did just that.

Fixed things.

And, if he could bring down corrupt empires and peace to solar systems, what was a bit of cryptic writing and a domestic between his kids?

Er - Rose's children.

Mates of his. His mates.

She wanted to be his mate, right? Here was his chance.

He strode over to the corner where he knew it to be and reached out to feel for the knot where he'd find the door but met only air and nothing.

Panic swept through him for a moment as he continued moving forward. He should have smacked into solid timeship, and there was _nothing._

He dashed from empty space to empty space in the vain hope that he'd only misremembered its location, or that she'd moved slightly to throw him off.

After three minutes and thirty seconds, he gave up and ran to the console.

"She's really gone, hasn't she? How? It shouldn't- I took the bloody thing! Oh, Rassilon, Old Girl! What in the bloody hell is she thinking? Show me!"

The TARDIS sent him a wave of her own frustration and sadness and the images of the Alpha running into the console room chased by Jack.

_ The captain stopped her, and pulled her in for a crushing hug. She wriggled out of his embrace and started to make her way to her ship. Jack grabbed her hand and spun her back around. They seemed to be shouting at each other, then stared for a tense moment until the captain hung his head and followed her inside. Nothing more happened for a few minutes, then the tree began to disappear._

Not fifteen seconds after it had gone completely, he saw himself pensively enter the room before the memory faded.

"She just left."

He was utterly bewildered.

"No word to any of us. She just _left."_

How could things have gone so entirely wrong in so short a time? Why did it feel like he was smack in the middle of the mother of all tantrums and what wouldn't he give for a way to send everyone to their rooms for a year!

"Who does that? Who the hell does she think she is? Where did she go?"

A set of coordinates appeared on the monitor. Cardiff. He sighed in relief. Unless she was dropping Jack off before running off, she probably went to refuel. It also meant that she probably wasn't leaving there in a hurry.

Grounded. She was bloody grounded. Maybe he could put her in the zero room for a time out while he worked on a way to lock her out of her ship. He'd leave her on Earth for a while, but he couldn't put the humans through that.

Should he go after her while she was stuck?

As if the very act of thinking it was enough to chase her away, he lost her coordinates the next moment.

"No!" he yelled and began combing for any sign of her TARDIS. "No, no, no, don't do this!"

The search could take hours.

_ Oh, Selene Tyler. What are you doing?_

The timeship sent a feeling of loss and grief, then the image of Lios pacing in the infirmary. This was followed by Torin in the darkened library, brooding with his head in his hands. She sent him a feeling of grief again and the equivalent of a mental push.

"We'll figure it out," he said calmly as much for his own benefit as anything. "It's not the first time she's run off in anger. She'll come back. She just needs to cool off. We'll stay here a bit and give her a chance to do. She'll come back, Sexy. She's young and hot-headed, but she'll come back."

The ship sent the images of the boys again and pushed.

"Yes, I suppose I'd better, but shouldn't we give it a bit first? Just in case? No sense in causing them any more worry."

Impatience and a push.

He sighed and ran his fingers through his fringe.

"Fine."

But which to start with?

Torin might rage and pretend he was glad she'd left, whereas Lios would likely blame himself entirely.

He hesitated, glued to the spot in front of the corridor while he weighed which young man would be most upset.

The TARDIS gave an impatient hum and it was only a few minutes before Torin's curly brown head appeared around a corner followed very quickly by Lios's spiky blonde around another. They exchanged looks of concern for the other before looking toward the Doctor.

_ Thank you._ He growled mentally at the old girl. _Thank you so very much. Could have given me just a few moments, couldn't you? But you just take all matters pertaining to them into your own hands, don't you? Interfering box of bolts with delusions of being a nan.  
_

She sent him a mental huff, then went back to wallowing in her own upset.

Oh, how was he going to do this?

"Your sister scarpered," he blurted.

_ Brilliant. Very well done indeed._ _Still, to the point, in any case._

Both young men stopped in their tracks with stunned expressions.

Torin's face quickly melted into a look of annoyance and anger, while his brother's morphed into utter terror and panic. They silently regained themselves, and hurried into the console room to view the offending empty space.

Torin was the first to speak, "I'm so bloody tired of her right now, I can't even find the words." He tugged at an ear and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Me. I can't find the words."

"Shut the hell up, Torin!" Lios exploded, rounding on his sibling with panic in his eyes. "You don't know the half of it."

"Oi! Watch it!" Torin retorted back, the uncharacteristic outburst catching him off guard. "You said yourself she's been bang out-of-order lately! Now she's swanned off in _our_ ship without even a word! And what?" he advanced on Lios, and threw his gangling arms in the air. "We just wait until she _feels_ like coming home? Since when are any of us so far beneath her that we should put up with that kind of treatment, eh? It's not right, and she can't be doing this!"

"Torin, she isn't coming back!"

Torin shoved his younger brother and yelled into his face, "Shut your bleeding gob! 'Course she is, you prat! The Alpha wouldn't do that! Just shut the hell up!"

"Torin," Lios shouted and lunged forward and caught his brother by the lapels of the new blue suit the TARDIS had provided.

The Doctor moved toward them to pry them apart but Torin held up a hand to him. Lios was staring into his older brother's eyes and pleading as he sent him the incident in the infirmary.

After a few tense moments, the two melted into matching postures of defeat.

"She wouldn't just ditch us, Li," Torin insisted in a whisper. "She wouldn't."

Lios looked broken and lost but convinced he was right.

"I've... I've had this feeling... for months Torin, months... She was always going to leave us... It's why I... pushed."

"I agree with Torin," the Doctor interjected. "I think she's just blowing off steam. She's totally lost without you two. Try to relax. We'll sort this. It's a bloody mess right now, granted, but we'll sort it. We'll wait. She'll be back."

He tried to sound confident, but, as the two debated, he was losing confidence.

When he put himself in Selene's position, it was hard to ignore that she'd left the two she cared most about in relative health and safety and with a sort of guardian. She'd taken Jack - not gone off alone - and stopped in Cardiff where she could refuel. Lios had made it clear that she was either in, or intending to be in some sort of danger. Perhaps she was trying to be noble.

"I need you to tell me what happened at the schism."

Neither man looked at him but they both nodded.

The Doctor felt the invitation to accept their memories and allowed them to wash over him and coalesce into one, if slightly manic, set. They were all tinged in grief, anxiety, and determination.

And love.

So much love.

_ They had looked into all of time and space… and it was… terrifying… and heartsrendingly beautiful… _

_ ...and intoxicating in its power, but unbelievably overwhelming, and seemingly uncontrollable - which was new to be honest, and not a little dismaying - and it was… it was… _

_ ...looking into them. _

_ They were looking into all of time and space, and all of time and space was looking back - searching for something. _

_ Did they mention how overwhelming it was? _

_ Bright light completely blinded their vision, and no matter how they tried, they couldn't move._

_ Selene was gone - and not. _

_ Her little blonde head was there one instant, and gone the next, but they could feel her hands grasped in theirs despite the void between them... _

_ ...which made no sense in the sensory sense, because the senses usually agree when you're very clever and not easily surprised, but who were they to argue with all of time and space if making sense didn't seem to matter very much to it just then?_

_ "There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio…" came an androgynous golden echo followed by silvery laughter._

_ A wolf howled in the distance and they felt an intense heat between them._

_ Each had an arm plunged inside an intense light, which burned like a star and held them fast. _

_ The heat became searing pain as the arm was consumed in the progressive supernova, threatening to overtake them at any moment. _

_ It pushed at the boundaries they created but never went far beyond. _

_ Between them, and only them, they held its power at bay. _

_ The explosion began to reverse itself, drawing the fires and blinding light back inside itself until the air was once again cool, and their sister with her overbite, sharp chin, and blonde waves stood between them. _

_ Her eyes burned like twin suns and she seemed not to be aware of her surroundings. She was staring ahead of herself into the heart of time._

_Timelines spun and wove themselves around them, all in an endless dance of possibility vying to become reality. One shone bright and hot, eclipsing the others as it wound itself around the three, finally encircling them and beckoning them to gaze inside. Their sister couldn't tear her glowing eyes away from it._

_ When they looked with her they saw it collapsing in on itself, breaking apart and dying. _

_ As the destruction moved nearer to the eye of the storm, the damage seemed to be originating from a red planet, much like the one to which they had recently journeyed. Screams of trillions of souls winking from existence created chaos within their minds. _

_ As the destruction zeroed in on a city encased in glass, and specifically one inhabitant of that city wearing a set of intricately embroidered, crimson robes, a neck piece bearing a strange mark of infinity, a gauntlet which glowed with blue energy, a staff made of gold with spirals at the top, and a golden circlet studded with small red gems, their purpose in life became as clear as the shining dome meant to protect the dying masses. He had to be stopped. He was the enemy. He would end everything and they had a chance to put it right._

_Why else would they see something so grim unless they had a chance of preventing it?_

_ He laughed as reality collapsed around him, and it was all they could do to keep from crying out in horror._

_ Gentle pressure met the hands holding their sister's before she let them both go and moved forward toward the maniacal man destroying everything. _

_ They tried to stop her, keep her from going anywhere near the dangerous man, but found they couldn't move. _

_ The man paid her no mind as she approached. He seemed not to see her even as she stood directly in front of him, but when she spoke his icy blue eyes snapped to hers. _

_ The evil in his eyes gave way to longing/greed. _

The Doctor shook his head, coming out of the memory and looking expectantly at the men to whom they belonged.

Torin answered first.

"I say greed. He looked like he wanted to grab her and use her until she was empty, useless, and completely broken."

"It was longing," Lios contradicted. "Yes, he looked like he wanted to grab her, but it wasn't just for power."

"Anyway, it was weird 'cos we definitely haven't ever seen that man."

"And they definitely knew each other," Torin agreed.

The Doctor, who all to well knew their mystery villain, said nothing of his fear and suspicions, and instead went back to examining their joint memories.

_He held out the hand with the gauntlet to their sister. _

_Temptation etched lines into her face, but in the end she made no move to take it. _

_ They couldn't hear her following words but the man's features contorted with rage. A bolt of blue energy from the gauntlet shot straight through her, but like any phantom, it did her no harm. She simply shook her head and smiled sadly. She stepped back toward her immobilised brothers, then waved her hand and he began to lose his solidity, dissolving into little more than smoke. _

_ As he faded from view and an unearthly melody began to play._

_ Music like none they had ever dreamed surrounded them and began to lull them to sleep. The Universe was singing to them, and they couldn't fight the drowsiness…_

The Doctor let that memory fade into what followed but let the memories pass without touching on them. He had seen enough of their grief to know that he didn't want to live through his meta-crisis dying.

Instead he focused in on the hours of examining the girl's marking, and the futile efforts to interest her in doing anything but pour over the makeshift High Gallifreyan textbooks his meta-crisis made. The hours turned to days, days to weeks, and weeks to months as she tried to master the complex language without a master of her own. She spent the next few years doing little but pouring over everything he'd left.

The brothers worried, but Rose - blessed Rose Tyler and her stubborn streak - had had enough of the obsessing one day, and locked every book she could find in a steamer trunk, which she promptly loaded into one of their short-range cruisers and sent down to the nearest habitable planet.

She told her daughter to go after it before it fell into the wrong hands and changed history.

Selene had panicked and raged at her mum, but Rose took it in stride and told her to get on with it.

Selene was gone three days two hours and seven minutes, and they were just about to take the whole Star-liner in, when she came back covered in slime and algae from the swampy surface of the planet, and positively glowing with life and adventure.

They still caught her studying all the time, but she had become less openly obsessive and more inclined to participate in family life.

"She wants to get to Gallifrey," the Doctor pointed out, "but it's gone. Rassilon is gone, and Gallifrey is gone. It's all _gone._ I destroyed it. All."

"W-we know-"

"Lios, she'll come back because there's no way to get to where she wants to go. I don't understand why this was such a big secret. I could have ended this madness when we met with three simple words. They're. All. Dead."

"We know, Doctor. We know all about the Moment, but it's not that straight forward, is it?" Lios said weakly.

"Yes, actually, it is. I _destroyed_ the planet and it's _gone,_ along with everyone on it. No one to fight, no one to save. That's as straightforward as it gets, by my ken."

Lios opened his mouth to object further, when the phone rang. The Doctor ran to it, instead of ignoring it for once, and answered.

"This had better be whom I think it is, and you'd better make it good."

_ "Hullo, Da- er - Bow-tie. Erm… Yeah, sorry 'bout all this. I was bloody stupid, wasn't I? I'm sorry. I really am."_

"Your brothers aren't half nearing distraction, you know."

_ "Yeah, I know, but, well, er… Tell 'em to stop bein' daft 'cos this one's completely my fault an'…"_

Torin was hovering and obviously fighting the impulse to grab the phone and shout at his sister.

"Torin would very much like a word, I think."

_ "No! No. Actually, I don't have a lot of time so - er - Doctor, I'm stuck. Can you pick me up at the coordinates I'm sending?"_

"Of course, but Selene, what-"

_ "I'm alright. Jus' come, please."_

"Alpha-"

_ "Mates, right? I trust you an' you trust me, yeah?"_

The Doctor stayed silent as he mulled over her words.

Something wasn't right.

She was telling him something, but was it that she really needed his trust, or that he should be wary going in after her?

A set of coordinates appeared on his monitor.

"I'm coming to get you - _oi!"_

Torin really did reach out and snatch the receiver this time, though Lios, who had been hovering, made a valiant effort to wrest it from both of them for himself as well.

Torin was easily tallest, and held it out of reach, then climbed on the jump seat, put a trainered foot in Li's face, held the Doctor back by the forehead with his free hand, and put the receiver to his ear to hear his sister's soft laughter and a muffled sniff.

"Ha!" he cried in triumph. "You'd think you've been gone a few years and not a few minutes with all the sorry sods 'round here, eh? Alpha, I… oh."

The line was dead.

"That's a bit more than disappointing." He jumped back down and hung it up with a scowl. "Where did she get stuck then?"

"Odd," the Doctor remarked as he input the coordinates. "The Tower of London. Twenty-first century. I'm not picking up your ship but the TARDIS isn't able to land inside either. Very odd."

"Really?" Torin intoned in curiosity as he peeked over the Doctor's shoulder. "Has that ever happened before?"

"No, and I can't say I like it very much either."

"What could do that?" Lios asked.

"Humans," he said as if it explained everything. "Humans who have things they shouldn't. Well, looks like she might be in a bit of a pickle. Shall we go find out what kind of trouble she could get into in," he glanced at the watch on his wrist and whistled wryly, "sixty-eight minutes and twelve seconds?"


	19. Exodus

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who not profit from the writing of this silly bit of madness.**

**Though, I do own my madness.**

**Waka waka waka.**

**Ye-p. Shutting my gob now.**

**Lies. I'm not. This chapter is my Chamber of Secrets. Important stuff woven throughout in disguise as just another chapter. Now, really, that's all I'm being told I'm allowed to say because Selene's aiming a spanner at my head.**

* * *

Lios pulled and her hearts shattered.

Timelines flared to life around him as she absorbed the enormity of the moment, and the two men before her remained blissfully unaware of her struggle.

Four powerful likelihoods shimmered before her with two very different outcomes. They eclipsed the lesser probabilities, and made her choices the fulcrum of success and failure, of life and death.

There was devastating loss any way she viewed them, but only one she could bear.

And it would turn her into a monster.

She chose.

And ran.

For the first time since her father died a century before and she accepted that her life would never be one of comfort, happiness, and ease, she gave over to the bitter flood of tears born of grief, and panic, and resentment at the unfairness of the universe. Her vision was soon rendered useless by the salty drops of grief and desolation, her breath ragged and her bypass threatening to take over at any moment. She relied on her other senses to guide her down the corridors as she choked on her silent sobs.

She ran full speed through the dimly lit, organic labyrinth, but the TARDIS seemed to be diverting the corridors to hinder her. She cursed silently and pleaded at the ship all in the same thought, but the Old Girl only sent her waves of compassionate comfort, and diverted her again to a corridor with a fixed point standing in the middle.

She tried to backpedal and hide her tears, but Jack swept her quickly into a tight embrace.

She remained stiff for a few moments, but he didn't relent.

Jack was safe and Jack was there for her. He wasn't someone she had to run from, and he would do everything in his power to help. She couldn't help relaxing slightly with the realisation before returning the embrace fully, and with shameful desperation.

"Shhh… What's the matter? What happened?"

"It's time's all." She scrubbed at her face and pulled away, turning her back to him to get herself under control. "Time to go. You ready then?"

"Selene, sweetheart," he pulled her back into his arms, though she refused to turn back around, "what are you talking about?"

"The TARDIS is ready. My TARDIS. The Doctor an' I fixed her so it's time to go. You're still comin', yeah? I mean, 's alright if you changed your mind. I'll… Oh, Jack! Please don't have changed your mind!"

She wiggled herself back around to face him, clutching him tighter as tears spilled, unbidden and unwelcome, down her cheeks once again.

"Please, I couldn't take it right now! Please, please, come with me!"

"Shhhh." He squeezed her tighter and kissed the top of her head tenderly. "I made you a promise, didn't I?" he reassured softly.

She pulled away, but seized his hand, and pulled him after her.

She sent another silent plea to the timeship to help her and let her get back to the console room. The TARDIS sadly complied, with a wave of her own grief mixed with reluctance, and moved it closer.

Jack paused at the time rotor and patted the old girl before asking, "Did you at least say goodbye? He may not be your favourite person, but he deserves at least that."

She whirled around, her tear-stained face full of impatience and panic, and shot him a stubborn look before turning back to unlock the knot in the ship.

Her guilt was clawing like a ravenous beast at her insides.

The daft old Time Lord really didn't deserve this. She knew she'd cause him grief, especially since she'd found she couldn't keep hating him on principle and stopped pushing him away.

But what could she do?

She berated herself for opening up the tin of beans which should have been left alone. She was stupid to let him get any closer. She was stupid for letting herself get closer.

"Selene, what about my goodbye?" Jack insisted.

He hoped that his own need for a proper send off might push her into better manners. Whatever had transpired between those two headstrong Time Idiots needed to be put to bed before they parted. Family was family, and neither the Doctor nor Selene could afford to cut branches off in anger.

"You may want to run off in a fit but he's one of my oldest friends. I'm going to say goodbye. Wait."

"No! Jack!" she cried, her panic bubbling up in full force. "Wait! No! You can't, I'm sorry, you can't," she insisted vehemently. "We have to go, now. Please don't question it! I'll explain everythin', I swear, once we're on the TARDIS. _Please._"

Jack stared at her for a few tense moments, then crumbled at the desperation in her eyes. He really couldn't deny her anything. He followed her in.

"Where are the guys?" Jack asked as his eyes swept the cluttered console room.

It resembled a junkyard with parts strewn everywhere and odd lengths of abandoned wire and bolts choking the walkways. Clearly she took after her mother in this respect, and the Doctor's current regeneration was not the neatnik he'd been when he'd had big ears and Jack had first met him.

He gingerly stepped around what he could to move closer to her.

"Not comin'."

"What do you mean, not coming? Of course they are!" He tugged on her shoulder to make her turn and face him. "They'd follow you into hell! _Of course_ they're coming!"

She couldn't meet his eyes.

"What the hell happened, Selene?"

"They're not comin', Jack. Leave it," she choked.

"Selene-"

"I said leave it!" she shouted, shoving at his shoulders, and he backed off temporarily.

She slammed the door and ran to the console where she grabbed a small silvery orb. Plopping herself down near an open grating, she twisted it between her palms. It opened and she set to work threading the three wispy golden wires around what appeared to be a faintly glowing piece of coral.

"Selene," Jack gingerly began again.

"Jack, not now," she dismissed, then looked up with an apology on her face. "Gimme a mo' to get this sorted before sayin' anythin', please!"

They waited a tense moment before the Alpha knitted her inky brows, pulled the orb off, shook it, then reattached it.

Still, nothing happened.

She growled in frustration.

"Piece of bloody, buggerin' space junk, _honestly!_" She ripped it off and hurled it behind her where it hit the wall and promptly shattered into tiny pieces. "I had to snog a goddamn carrot for tha'! _An'_ his hands had a wander! _Worthless rubbish."_

"So, we're not going?" he asked almost hopefully.

"Oh, no," she grimaced. "We're goin' alright. Jus' not gettin' power the way I thought we'd do. I-I was hopin' I wouldn't have to try this 'cos I've never done it, only _seen_ it done, but no choice, really."

"Sure there is, let me just get-"

She lifted the crystalline piece of coral to her lips and felt the tingling energy building in every nerve centre. She concentrated on coalescing it.

"-Selene, hey, what are you doing?"

"Jus' givin' her a bit of a jump," she replied without looking up from the faintly glowing bit of her ship.

She blew, and a thick cloud of glittering regeneration energy passed from her to the coral, making it almost too bright to look at directly.

The little time rotor was instantly radiant with life, and Jack felt a golden presence, which was very familiar, practically kiss his mind on the cheek.

Well, if minds had cheeks, that is.

The Alpha was still sitting, cross-legged and dazed, on the TARDIS floor with a glazed look in her eyes when he called her name.

She startled slightly, coming out of her torpid stupor, then slurred, "Might've over done it jussa bit. Pro'bly an entire regen'ration wi' tha' one."

"_What?_ Selene! What did you do?"

She smiled wanly before promptly keeling over and passing out.

He ran to her and gathered her into his lap while he checked her vitals.

Both hearts beating- albeit sluggishly- smooth, even breaths, but her skin temperature closer to his own than was typical for a Gallifreyan. A thin sheen of sweat had broken out on her brow, and she was shivering despite her many layers of clothing.

He lifted her eyelids to check her pupils. He couldn't see that she was in immediate danger, but she wasn't in good shape either. He laid her back down and went to rummage through the mess of a console room for a pillow and a blanket.

The time rotor began its dematerialisation sequence so quietly, he never noticed they'd moved.

She was out cold for nearly half an hour.

When she finally came to, she didn't look her best, but the deathly pallor had left her lips and cheeks, and her eyes had lost all the frightening glassiness. Her core temperature was slowly righting itself, and her hearts rate had resumed its quick, drum-like cadence.

Jack was content to let her sit on her own while he made her the tea she requested.

While he was away, she stood on wobbly legs, and waddled to the console where she rested her hands on its shining column.

The display to her right announced in looping Circular Gallifreyan that they were no longer in the Doctor's console room, but Cardiff.

On the rift.

Waiting.

_Oh._

_Well, no time like the present,_ she supposed.

"Mum?" She said as she stroked her very alive and well ship. "You did this, didn't you?"

Jack was many things and plenty of them quite brilliant, but she was positive a TARDIS pilot was not among them.

She waited for an answer but none came.

"Mum, I hope you didn't do anythin' to - er - can you get hurt like this? Well, I hope it's jus' tha' you're tired an' tha's why you're not answerin' me. I mean, you should be able to now, yeah? I was so sure... I hope I didn't muck anythin' up. I hope you're alright… is wha' I mean. I mean, I hope nothin' went wrong. This can't go all squiffy yet."

She gave an enormous yawn full of glistening regeneration energy still floating about inside.

"Blimey, I'm still knackered. Feels like I jus' fell out of a Yrgia tree an' hit every branch on the way down. Could do with a kip but 's not bloody likely to happen, is it? No wonder you always slept for so long after doin' tha'. Tha' was right shatterin' for even my body, an' you had a human vascular system an' everythin'. Right, should stop talkin', full stop, any time now. Will be the master of my own voice an' thoughts again. Soon. Ish. Soon-ish. 'S a funny word, innit? Soon. Sooooooooooon. Blimey, still can't stop. Wha' is wrong with me?"

Jack made his way down the stairs from the little galley and handed her a steaming mug of the herbal tea she and her brothers had picked while still in the other universe. The thought was bittersweet, but even the smell made her mind feel less foggy.

Still, without the haze, the persistent aching from the void in her mind, normally occupied by her brothers and, quite recently, the Doctor, returned with a vengeance. She was certain she'd never gone this long alone in her mind in her entire life. It was a dismal realisation of how truly isolated she had chosen to make herself.

"What's wrong?" He took the tea from her and set the mug down, then took her face in his hands searching for something - anything he could fix. "What's happening?"

"Jussa bit gobby, Jack." She smiled as best she could to reassure him.

Sadness didn't seem like a notable physical ailment with which to worry him.

"Not a major problem, jus' means I need the tea 's all."

She picked it back up, took a sip, and sighed. Her head was killing.

"I'll make a mental note of that," he shook his head as she pulled her own out of his hands. "Now, why are we running away without Torin and Lios? I had half a mind to run back for them and the Doc while you were unconscious, you know. You scared the living hell out of me. What was that about an entire regeneration? Was that what that was? Regeneration energy? Did you just _waste_ an entire regeneration? You do know you have a limited number of those, right?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

She put her mug down and scrubbed her face with her clammy hands.

"Shut up a minute, alright?" Her befuddled mind made all his questions snowball into one big lump of overwhelming. "Too much all at once. Wha' was the first bit? Why're we runnin' from 'em? 'S complicated."

"Selene," he pushed, "you promised. It's me. Just tell me."

She huffed, and took another sip of tea to stall before setting it down and allowing Jack to pull her close again.

"I made the choice I could live with, Jack."

"I got that part. The rest is where I'm fuzzy."

"If I stayed, it'd mean one of them would have to choose between lettin' me die an' dyin' themselves - an' they'd do it. I saw it, clear as anythin'. They would choose, an' it wouldn't be to let me go. I dunno which one exactly, but I couldn't let 'em do tha'. Don't you see? I couldn't choose myself over them. _Any_ of 'em. So... I left... after makin' 'em angry. All of 'em. 'S better. Easier later."

"Do you really think anger makes letting go easier?"

She rubbed at her face with a fist.

"It was never gonna be a kissy-face, love-you-so, all-my-best-to-Gallifrey goodbye, you know."

Jack kissed her head again but kept his silence. She leaned away to rest her head on the bottom of the console rather than his shoulder.

He understood the choice she made, but he wasn't ready to lie down and accept her casual resignation to death. He was determined to risk everything if he had to. It didn't matter that she had the stupid Time Lord ability to see these things. The Doc did too, and he'd been wrong plenty of times.

She'd be wrong too, no matter what she thought.

He slipped his hand in his pocket and touched his insurance policy for comfort.

"Couldn't've gone an' fetched 'em to help anyway though, sorry," she murmured with her eyes shut and her head tilted toward the ceiling. "We're already in Cardiff."

"Oh?" he asked incredulously and felt her forehead again.

"'M fine! Leave it!" She swatted at his hand. "'S not your Cardiff, though. 'S 2021 so don't go out an' risk a paradox or anythin'."

She sniffed and forced back the tears that threatened. She hoped he'd pick a topic that wasn't in any way related to anything relevant so she could distract herself from the overwhelming emptiness in her mind and her soul. She did not yet have the wherewithal to do it herself.

"What? When did you do that? While I was making tea?"

"No, I didn't do it at all." Opening her eyes, she turned her head to him and motioned at the time rotor. "I think it was Mum. She moved us here soon as I gave the ship a boost."

Jack thought about the golden presence he'd felt earlier and nodded. It was strange, but not the most outrageous thing he'd ever heard.

"So we're here and ready to go, but you're beat. Look at you! I don't think I've ever seen you this tired. When did you sleep last?"

He noticed for the first time that her red scarf was missing, and the swirling golden symbols were peeking out from under her collar. As silly as it was, it was almost like seeing her partially undressed, and though he'd seen more of her when she'd shown him her markings before, he had the mad feeling he was peeping. Not that he minded peeping in general when the opportunity and right person came along, but he was glad they were alone and no one else could.

"Oh, er… Dunno. Coupla days?" she hedged. "Gone much longer than tha' before without a problem. I'm alright. Really. Jus' gotta recover a bit an' I'll be fine. Tea!"

She knew the last time she'd slept had been the day they'd met the Doctor and it had been nearly a week, but she wasn't going to try to sleep. It would be the first time she ever slept without her brothers and the idea filled her with dread and grief. She doubted her headache would allow her to rest anyway.

"Tea's good. All I'll need, I promise."

"Regeneration energy," he prompted, changing the subject he knew he wouldn't win.

"Right, yeah."

In her not-so-humble opinion, this subject wasn't much better. He wasn't going to like it either. She'd just have to avoid extrapolating on the worst bits.

"So, er… it's powerful stuff. I - er - nicked wha' was supposed to be a vortex channeller from a bloke on Garazone Prime, but it turned out to either be a really excellent fake, or broken. Well, it's totally and completely broken now, innit?" she chuckled as she looked at the shattered silver pieces on the ground. "Glad I didn't actually pay money for it."

"So you did what exactly?"

"I snogged him and nicked it out of his pockets. I wasn't hard. He was a nasty bastard, Jack. Sweat shops an-"

"No, I mean here. An hour ago. What did you do to the TARDIS?"

"Oh, right. Snoggin' carrots isn't what you were askin' about, was it?"

His face told her just how un-amused he was by her attempt to dodge the subject.

She sighed. "I fed some of my regeneration energy to the coral to get her goin'. Mum used to do somethin' like it all the time, an' the Doctor's done it before too. Don't worry, Jack," she soothed, seeing his concern which bordered on anger.

"You mumbled that it was too much. A whole regeneration."

"Yeah… Erm… Well, I've never done it before myself. I overshot a bit 's all."

Again, he looked thoroughly unimpressed.

"Stop lookin' at me like tha'! It doesn't matter! I did wha' I had to do! An' it's not like I'm gonna need it later! It's there for me to use now,_ for this,_ so I did! Don't get all shirty with me for makin' the decisions tha've gotta be made!"

She pulled out of his grip and parked herself on the ground near the opening in the grates.

He watched her as she reached in and gently lifted the coral piece she had literally breathed life into earlier. She stroked it reverently, before lovingly returning it to its proper place, and moving the grey, organic piece of floor back over the hole.

There was no arguing with her once she made a choice. If she believed it was right, it was. The end. Everyone else was wrong if they disagreed. It was infuriating even while it was endearing.

She paused a moment and closed her eyes while breathing in deeply and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"What's wrong, Selene?" He made an effort to return his voice back to normal. "Please, just tell me."

Her eyes snapped back open and she got to her feet, shaking off the moment of weakness. "Nothin'. Jus' a headache. No big deal."

He sighed and gave her a penetrating look. He was nearly ready to get up and walk away. He could ask her until he was blue in the face without getting any real answers. She was the Doctor's daughter.

Sensing he was close to his wit's end, she relented a bit. Jack was precious to her and she wasn't intending to push him away, it was just what came naturally.

"Really, it's nothin'. I jus' blocked everyone an' it doesn't feel very nice. I can tell you, though, it's no wonder the Doctor can be such a moody git if he's spent centuries with his head like this."

"Why don't you just open back up. We're gone now."

She shook her head sadly. "They'd be here in two seconds if I did. 'S better this way. I don't mind… er… well, I can cope. I'm alright."

"But, it hurts."

"Yeah. Not the end of the world, a headache, is it."

He hesitated a moment, unsure if anything he had to offer would be welcome or helpful. "Would it help if you let me in? I know it's not the same, but it's something, right?"

She had been studiously avoiding his gaze as she fiddled about with the controls and ran systems checks, but, at those words, she looked up and met his cool blue eyes with her brows reaching for her hairline.

She felt a rosy blush creep unbidden into her cheeks.

"Er…" she swallowed. "'S not exactly how it works, but… No, Jack, it isn't like you think, I mean," she looked away from him and tugged at her coat sleeves before meeting his eyes again, "'s not like when we practised forgettin' or anythin'. Tha' was all touch an' me bein' incredibly careful."

Her brows scrunched back down and she shifted from foot to foot.

"It wouldn't be somethin' tha'… it wouldn't go away. You couldn't turn it off. We'd be connected an' I'd jus' be... there..."

She broke their eye contact as her brows seemed unable to decide where they should rest on her face, and her mouth pulled down at one corner and up at the other. She pulled at her sleeves again, and felt for her missing muffler as if her hands had a mind of their own.

He stood and moved in a little closer.

She stiffened and took a step away, her mouth losing control of the torrential flood of awkward garrulousness which seemed to be hereditary. "A-all the time, Jack. You'd have no privacy 'cos you're not naturally telepathic an' don't know how to - er… keep things separate or - er sort of fenced off. I mean, _I'm_ really good - er - I mean that I'm very in control, an' I'd not pry, 'cos it's not nice, is it? But it's really… er… intimate... when you're not - er - family, so I'm sure you don't really understand wha' you're offerin'. I mean, family bonds're jus' there, y'know? Always. From the earliest moments, yeah? It's part of our TNA. Openin' up to the Doctor was like jus' lettin' him slide into the empty spot my dad used to occupy, but Time Lords... We're not your average telepathic species... there's - er - I mean, erm… Our minds are... big- _huge!_ Enormous! You'd never- I can't- an' _different, _Jack, we're different, an' it can be dangerous- _so_ dangerous for someone without barriers, you could _burn_, so... An', with non-telepaths, we gotta touch unless we - er - bond... Well, you'd be sendin' to me all the time an' I'd…"

He was close enough that she could feel the heat radiating, and actually taste the pheromones rolling from him in heaven scented waves.

Oh, he was a temptation.

A bad-news, not-a good-idea, very-wrong, he's-your-only-mate temptation. And she was in a very-bad-so-very-weak place.

He just couldn't have understood what he'd offered her... could he? She'd have to spell it out.

"Well, we'd be… like… well, a couple - er - _permanently, _Jack, you don't jus' form a bond an' later decide you don't want it, or can't do it, an' I appreciate the offer, 's really very sweet, but I can't do tha' to you. Cramp your style, yeah?"

She turned back to the console and quickly began scrolling through the circular words which made little sense to him.

"I can think of plenty of worse things than a connection to you."

She rolled her eyes and tried to laugh it off and ignore her tingling skin, then moved further around the console, and busied her aching fingers.

He couldn't be serious. He was always having a laugh this way, and she shouldn't read into it. Jack was just incorrigible, and she should be thankful he was trying to distract her from her misery instead of imagining… things. Not exactly bonding things, she wasn't sure she'd ever be ready for something like that, but _thing_ things involving the _doing_ of things that mates- _best,_ well, her best mates generally did not do. With her. Never mind her best mates had been family. Best mates did not do _thing_ things. People she left behind on random planets did _thing_ things, but not mates. Ever. She was perverted for even imagining it.

Still.

She felt a wave of love for the immortal man and his commitment to her after so short a friendship, and pretended it was completely platonic as she smiled softly. Even if he was here to help her save a planet and stop a war, he'd made it clear that his biggest reason for assisting was his friendship with her family. No wonder her mum loved him so much that she couldn't bear the thought of a universe without him.

She was struck with how filled her life was with good men. It hurt and made everything easier all at the same time. Whatever she could do for them to keep them safe and whole, she would.

Wallowing was no good. She needed to get on with it if she was going to ever move again.

"So. Shall we, er... get a move on?" She cleared her throat and smiled. "No time like the present, yeah? Although, in a TARDIS the present is whenever we want it to be, so maybe tha' was a stupid idiom..."

His blue eyes blazed for a moment with determination at her words and he strode to her and pulled her into a fierce kiss that had her squirming and tingling down to her toes. Her nerves were still sensitive from the regeneration energy and the sensations swept her away as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him back ever bit as good as she got. His tongue teased her bottom lip, seeking permission and she couldn't stifle the moan that arose in her throat as he deepened the kiss. She buried her sensitive fingers in his hair and absorbed the pleasure of the moment, from the taste of his mouth, to the way his blazing-hot chest felt pressed against her cool one, and the way each of her layers set her nerves on fire as they moved between the two of them.

She felt his mind brush her thick barriers and it brought reality crashing back down around her.

She pulled away with the most casual smile she could muster... like she snogged the hell out of people every day.

On jelly legs, she walked around the other side of the console, prepping switches and levers, keeping the rotor between them, and fighting the giddiness that wasn't helping her control herself. She didn't know if she was surprised he'd done it - Jack was, after all, Jack - but she did know she had every reason not to let it go any further. It was a very slippery slope, and one she had no intention, or right, to sliding down at a time like this.

"I must be a Time Lord junky and repellant all in one," he joked softly. "Is it the way I feel? The fixed point?"

She stared at her hands and considered lying. It would be easy. She'd already hurt all the rest of the people she cared about. What was one more?

She met his gaze again and flinched at the sadness she saw, her earlier notion of purposely wounding him winking out of the realm of possibility in a split second. "Oh, God, Jack, no! No! It's got nothin' to do with you at all. You're lovely!"

He flinched.

"Er - that sounded bad, an' it wasn't a-a... I'm not... I do mean it. Really… really… mean it…" she shivered a moment, then continued, "I jus'… I'm too mixed up right now for casual, yeah?"

"Who said anything about casual, Selene?"

"Jack…"

"Selene, there isn't a man alive that wouldn't take one look at you and want you, but the minute they got to know you, _really_ know you, they'd never be the owner of their heart again. Your father is the same. People fall in love with him all over the universe and he never even sees it most of the time. You're just a chip off the old block. I never stood a chance."

"You couldn't have picked a better time for this?"

"When is the right time, Selene? When I've jumped into the timelock and have to forget you soon after? You're asking if I'm ready to do just that, and I'm not. Not until I've at least had my say. One day, if by some miracle I remember this, I'd like to know I wasn't a coward. Now, have I been chasing phantoms and was that kiss just the heat of the moment, or was what I felt there as mutual as it seemed?"

"Jack, don't push. It's not fair to either of us."

"When has fairness ever had anything to do with love?"

"Gah! Stop! Jus' don't, alright?" she shouted and backed further away. "You can't say tha' to me!"

"Are you going to give me a load of Time Lord bull? You don't have feelings like that?"

"No!" She yanked her hands through her inky hair and cursed in Gallifreyan. "No, I won't, but you gotta understand it won't be enough! I'm not gonna say I felt nothin' 'cos tha'd be a lie, but we have, wha'? Hours together, tops?" Her eyes searched his in desperation. "Unless, 'course, we completely say sod it all an' abandon everythin' I've worked my whole life toward, or spend all our stolen time on the run so tha' I can keep the Doctor from makin' it all go pear-shaped."

"You would never do that," he admonished softly.

"No," she deflated and slumped against the grey wall, "I wouldn't, but you could ask," she smiled at him with ill-concealed vulnerability. "'Course, you wouldn't either now, would you? 'S why I… You're amazin', Jack, you know tha'?"

He moved to her side, the wild look gone from her eyes, and took her hand in his.

"We've known each other less than a week an' you're ready to love me even though I'm rude, an' cranky, an' bossy, an' obsessive," she whispered.

Though no longer ready to run, she still kept herself closed off, pain and self-deprecation swimming at the surface of molten amber.

"You've spent hours watching' me at my very worst, an' yet, you have the ability to get past all tha' an' find somethin' to see in me. To you it comes easy. Love is meant to be given away for Captain Jack. Tha's not bad or anythin', 's jus' I'm… I'm not like tha'."

She dropped his hand and clenched her fists.

"Not with love. Casual's fine sometimes, but love? 'S hard for me an' it never gets any easier. I… but if I let myself… like tha', 'cos Jack, I could, you don't know how easy it'd be with you, you've been... everythin'... an' I'm gonna be crushed when you don't know me anymore, an' who knows how long I'll have to live knowin' I'm not even a blip on the Harkness radar? Casual'd be easier'n losin' you tha' way. I know I'm selfish. I can't help it. I try not to be an' I always circle back to tryin' to not get hurt-"

Jack kissed her again but the urgency had calmed. His kiss felt more like a promise. She didn't resist, but willed herself to stiffen in his arms.

"Stop it," she commanded with pathetically little conviction.

Still, he let her go and held his hands up in surrender. She felt the loss of contact keenly, and his supplicant posture tore at her hearts.

"Oh, bloody hell, Jack Harkness."

She stalked over to the dematerialisation switch, and, after a moment's hesitation, sent them into the vortex.

"One bleedin' night. 'S all we get. I can't hide us longer'n tha'. Are you _sure_ you're okay with doin' this then forgettin'?"

"No, I hate the idea, but I don't have any choice, do I?"

"No," she whispered.

Jack looked as thoroughly heartbroken as she felt and she just couldn't stand it, so she told him a half-truth.

"I can make it so the next time you see me, you get all the memories back."

His head snapped up and his eyes searched hers.

"I can't promise when it'll be, but I can promise they may not be lost forever."

"When this is over, Selene, I'm going to be waiting to see your face again. I expect it to happen. Don't disappoint me."

"Well, you're not gonna remember so you won't be bothered."

She cringed as soon as the words left her lips.

He closed his eyes, and let the sting pass.

"Oh, rude, yeah? Tha' was bad, even for me. Sorry."

He laughed despite her avoidance, and softly claimed her lips again.

In a few hours, he'd be strapping on his supercharged vortex manipulator and willingly launching himself, the fixed point, at the timelock, another fixed point, and trying to rip it open with his existence.

In a few hours, she'd be sailing through the tear he would make on a shock wave from the rift to spend an unknown amount of time alone on a planet full of enemies, until she faced what she was convinced would be her end.

In a few hours, the manipulator would take him back to Cardiff after she'd made it through, but as soon as he was safe, he'd forget he ever met her.

Sod it all. The universe owed them both one damn night.

* * *

***A/N: _Stolen Hours,_ is the next installment in this story. It can be found posted as a missing scene one-shot on my page but is non-essential to the main plot. It's fun if you like a little slice of lemon with your tea and Time Lords, but it will only give you back story without forward movement. ****Now, I love it, and I do encourage you to give it a go. I became very attached to this pairing while I wrote and it surprised the hell out of me. I didn't think I would as I almost cut the plot line initially, however, the pairing has a very definite purpose, affecting so very much more than just themselves and their futures in a timey-wimey way, but before I'm tempted to give spoilers for my favourite plot twists, I'm going to wrap it up and say, if you're tempted and old enough, read it. If you're under eighteen, object to or lemons just aren't your thing, move on to chapter twenty; I promise you're not going to get lost if you do.**


	20. Down the Rabbit Hole

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who.**

**This chapter marks the beginning of my insanity.**

**I have it on good authority that Bedlam is a spa resort in the 54th century.**

**I decided Bonfire Night 2006 was a much better date to land them in the madness. Especially since that'll mean I can have my Nine in my story if I want to, and dammit, I do. **

**Yes, Nine is my favourite. Yes, I get upset when people say they skipped his season. No, I don't like Ten better. No, it isn't because I'm a bad person, and yes, I have this debate often. **

**It's a character arc thing. Nine blossoms and makes my black little heart dance. Ten starts so high, then crashes and shatters himself - and me. Am I sad Nine wasn't in the 50th? Yes. Do I understand CE's reasons? Yes. Do I have major problems with the 50th? ...Does it need saying? **

**I have problems with Moffat as a show runner. I've loved some of his episodes, (Blink, The Empty Child, both brilliant) others... I still refuse to re-watch, but as a show runner... Well, I've gotten major joy from the fan GIF of McGann kicking him off a stool. The man loves to ignore canon, plot holes, logic, insight, and opportunities in favour of plot twists, excitement and the ooohhh-ahhh moment. **

**Plus, Madame de sodding Pompadour. I still get irrationally angry at the mention of Versailles, and the sight of Rococo fashion makes my blood boil. I violently abhor TGitF. It is the one and only episode I refuse to accept as canon. I consider it just a bad, no good, horrible dream. Don't tell me to calm down. I can't. It hurt my feelings, and I will never be completely over it. This is a blood grudge, Steven Moffat. A. Blood. Grudge. One which my children's children will not forget.  
**

**Honestly, this is the tip of the iceberg, but not the forum and not the time.  
**

**I'll just go watch the McGann GIF again.**

**I know, I know. I have issues.**

* * *

"I think I'll tell her she has to do the washing up for a year," Torin chattered to the room at large, "and that we'll be having her chocolate biscuits for a while. I bet she's feeling bad enough to agree to it."

He was feeling confident, and, if he was honest, relieved after his sister's phone call, and more than happy to take the opportunity to rub in the self-satisfaction. He knew their sister was just being stupid. Lios worried too much. And he reveled in his superiority.

"Do you remember when I took apart her useless robot cat and she lorded it over me forever? This is _much_ worse than that! What else can we use this for?" Torin was almost devilish in his glee as they began to materialise in London to rescue their wayward Time Lady.

"No way," Lios contradicted. "I'm not touching that with a bargepole. That's your funeral."

He felt he was far from any position to make demands of his sister. He shook his head at his brother's insistence on playing with fire, and played with the settings on the new sonic screwdriver the Doctor had made for him. The instruments had delayed their departure some, but, as the Doctor was still unsure they were not facing some trouble, and they were travelling by time machine, it was a necessary deferment.

It was streamlined with a blue diode, but without the claw feature he'd put on Torin's. Sure, the Doctor _claimed_ it was a useful feature, but he also suspected the Doctor based his definition of 'useful' on how cool it made you look, which was silly and impractical - even if he possibly did, almost, maybe think it was _slightly_ cool looking. Still, he was well pleased with his utilitarian model. The Alpha would take the mickey out of Torin every time she saw his for weeks, and he could remain aloof, which was excellent.

His own relief that she was not lost to them could not be expressed. He would let Torin crow as much as he wanted, so long as they got her back and all his fears were unfounded. A nagging doubt still ate at him, but he pushed it away as well as he could. He'd overheard her voice on the line, hadn't he? Selene was many things - secretive, insensitive, controlling, and adept at evasion - but a liar was not among them.

"You lot don't seem very concerned that she gave us little more information than, 'I'm stuck, come get me,'" the Doctor mused from his position at the ship's controls.

"The TARDIS is a baby." Torin shrugged. "She gets knackered. We've been stuck before- weeell, actually, we would get stuck for a bit more often than we didn't - and by that, I mean we always got stuck. Sometimes for weeks."

"Why not just say the ship was knackered then? Why be vague?"

"'Cos that's her, isn't it?" Torin spat, still angry with Selene despite his jokes. "Boss of everyone, so why waste time explaining?"

Lios shot him an indignant glare.

"Er - well, not really, I mean, she's not the boss of you, Doctor, and she sometimes asks for input before calling the shots, but she's always acting that way. Like she can't be bothered with any way but hers." He made a rude gesture at his brother. "I mean, you get used to it, don't you?"

"Torin!" Lios admonished. "She isn't cruel."

"And we aren't babies, Li! Why does she get the final say in everything, eh? I swear, she doesn't even know she's doing it, and so I don't even notice most of the time... and maybe she's usually right anyway, so er…right. Like I was saying, she just does that." He fidgeted and smoothed his curly hair down at the sides.

The Doctor moved away from the scanner and sat on the jump seat next to the younger man. "But what is it that she is ultimately trying to accomplish here? Lios, you promised me answers if I gave her a chance and she balked. Well, this is your sister, balking. Why go to Cardiff, then completely disappear only to call from an un-landable Tower of London? None of this makes sense, and your sister tends to be too obsessively meticulous to allow for this much randomishness."

It was Torin who answered, whether it was to spare his brother more guilt, or he was still feeling rebellious, or the compulsion to talk became too great, the world may never know, but he launched into it with a seriousness he rarely exuded.

"Do you remember the Gelth? 'Course you do, what am I saying? The Gelth tried to come through the rift because they had been forced into their gaseous state by fallout from the Time War, yeah?"

The Doctor nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, the Alpha is fairly positive - and by fairly positive I mean willing to try to pilot through it potentially killing herself, and us if she's even slightly wrong - that she can use the rift like a sort of slingshot to make a small breach in the Time Lock, because _that's_ where it comes out on the other side. All she'd need is a pinhole first and Jack said he'd give it a go."

"What do you mean, 'Jack said he'd give it a go?' Give _what_ a go?" the Doctor asked, horrified.

"Making a pinhole, weren't you listening?" Torin waved a lazy hand in his direction.

"And just _how_ is he supposed to accomplish that without accidentally ripping it wide open and unleashing hell on the universe?"

"Something about fixed point reverse polarity?" Torin squinted and rubbed his neck. "Something about neutron flow? No, not quite that. That'd be silly. Never mind I said that."

The Doctor was not impressed with his blasé attitude toward Selene's foolhardy plan.

"My attention wanders a bit when the Alpha obsessively plans. I think I'd've been sectioned already if I listened to her half the time. Still," he placated, he was discomfited by how upset the old man was becoming with it all, "Doctor, she took Jack with her to Cardiff and the rift, but called from _London,_ not Gallifrey. Maybe her attempt went squiffy, or she wised up and she's crawling back with her tail tucked. I'm tellin' you,_ all_ her biscuits and all the washing up."

The TARDIS landed with a jolt that had each of them scrambling for a handhold.

"I'm not convinced," the Doctor growled, "but we'll just have to go and see, won't we?"

He fully intended to stop her. He couldn't _believe_ she had been spending all that time sequestered with Harkness to formulate such dangerous idiocy.

No wonder she'd been avoiding him.

He would've nipped that bollocks idea in the bud.

What the hell was wrong with that girl?

They stepped out the doors to a scene familiar to only one of them.

The Doctor frowned as he looked around the Powell Estates, then up at his Old Girl.

"Not the Tower of London then?" Torin mused and Lios elbowed him. "Where are we?"

"Powell Estates; London; Earth; year…" he glanced at his watch, his eyes widened dramatically before he shot a furtive look around the alley in which they'd landed, then grabbed the two and started steering them back to the TARDIS. "Right, we'll land closer to the Tower! Closer is definitely, much more the place where we need to be. Come along, Tylers."

They didn't argue and boarded the ship without a fuss.

Lios, however, spoke up while the Doctor began throwing levers. "What year is it?"

"It's Bonfire Night, 2006."

"Powell Estates was where Mum grew up."

The Doctor stiffened.

"Yes it is, and I brought Rose home today to visit Jackie. I imagine we're here right now, so this is us, leaving. Immediately."

"Mum is here? Now?"

"Sorry, my boy, but you can't see her."

Torin perked up. "Why not? We won't make a fuss! We'll just have a quick look- Li! That means Gran-"

"No! No, no, no!" the old man interrupted, furiously poking at the console before they could get any other bad ideas. "I really can't see you either, actually, that's why we're going. Rose and Jackie would never be the wiser, but me? I'll sense you."

"Why'd you land us here then?" Torin asked with unabashed amusement, unaware, as ever, of his rudeness.

"I didn't intend to!" he cried, defensive as ever of his driving and the TARDIS' habits of ignoring his wishes. "I set the coordinates your sister gave, and _the TARDIS_ picked the parking spot! I'm sure it was just habit!"

"Right, well, what happened today?" Lios prompted.

"I left Rose and Jackie in the morning watching Eastenders on telly, and jumped ahead four hours in the TARDIS so we could do the bonfires and toffee apples sooner… I dropped her home at..." he glanced once more at his watch. "Right. Hurry up then!"

All three started their mad dash flipping switches, pushing buttons, and throwing levers to move the ship before running into the younger Doctor.

When they'd finally started dematerialising, the Doctors expression went from focused urgency to resigned and annoyed.

He let out a long-suffering sigh. "Well, I'm either going to make myself forget, or I change my mind at the last second."

Materialisation seemed to take forever, as if the TARDIS was having a brilliant laugh at his expense. When the last of her wheezing finished, he ushered the two to the door as fast as he could manage.

"Tylers, why don't you go and have a quick look while I deal with - er - me? And I'm sure it goes without saying, but shields up, lads. No spoilers."

He knew he'd be dealing with a broody, slightly volatile, but Rose-having version of himself any moment - he tried not to resent that last bit - he didn't remember this happening after all.

They nodded and were out the doors the moment he finished speaking.

Dark, close-cropped hair and a dark-leather clad frame entered one minute and eighteen seconds later.

"Riskin' a paradox, y'know?" the Northern burr sing-songed. One might think he took pleasure in taking the mickey out of himself. "Thought I'd get smarter, but regeneration _can_ be a dodgy process."

"Obviously!" the Doctor sniffed, feigning important distraction at the TARDIS console monitor. He'd put on Amelia's glasses and had his arms tucked behind his back. "And you're pretty thick as it is. _I_ legged it. _You_ gave chase. Who's the idiot, then? Older is wiser after all."

He turned to face the version of himself with the stormy blue eyes that had so recently seen more hell than any one person should.

"We both know you just wanted to see what kind of trouble I was getting into, but you'll just have to wait 'til it's your turn, won't you?" He pulled the glasses to the end of his nose and did his best to look down on the younger him. "Off we pop then. Make sure to forget, I'd rather not have any new memories surface just now." He shooed at him with limp hands and turned back to the gleaming console in a clear dismissal.

Only, he didn't take the hint, however not-so-subtly made.

The younger man shifted on the balls of his feet and looked around the console casually, blue eyes searching hungrily in spite of his cool demeanour.

"Not even goin' to ask about her?" the younger him posed with smooth nonchalance. "She... possibly still with us then? What were you doin' near her flat? Takin' her for a visit an' get the date wrong? Or is she gone, an' you were comin' back to peep? How much older _are_ you jus'? Mind, you're a bit pretty, an' appallin'ly young lookin', but maybe she likes-"

"Ah."

He clapped his hands together, spun back around, then pointed accusingly at himself- er, the _other_ himself.

"That's why you're here. A fishing expedition," he straightened his bow-tie - to the horror of the man in leather - in a dignified, I've-so-many-better-things-to-get-on-with manner. "As if I'd give you the satisfaction."

"Right. Don't do me any favors. Clearly, you're a prat this go."

"Ah, well, I've gotten quite cranky in my old age, you know?" he sighed, pushing Amy's glasses back up to their proper place. "Now, I know we've always been terrible at waiting for things, but you're gonna have to suck it and see this time. You really should forget this. As a matter of fact, I happen to know you _do_, so run along, jump ahead four hours, and go collect Rose Tyler before Jackie makes another inedible tea you'll have to choke down."

"Tha's never happenin'," Daft Ears snorted and folded his arms across his chest. "Tea with Jackie Tyler? Don't much fancy bein' slapped again, me. No, nor propositioned. If someone had told me Rose Tyler had a mother like tha', I'd not've asked twice."

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Yeah, you would."

The younger Doctor grinned infectiously.

It was his 'better-with-two-adventure, hand-holding-and-they-thought-I-was-her-bloke-and-not-her-dad, she-loved-the-new-planet, exploring-the-universe-for-fantastic-chips' smile.

The older Doctor felt a familiar pang of longing. It'd been a long time since he'd even wanted to smile like that.

"Really," he snapped himself out of it and tried once again to rid himself of... himself. "I'm not telling you anymore, I mean it! And this one's mine, just go back to your Rose, and get your," he gagged, "toffee apples. I've things to do! You're not invited."

The Doctor in tweed slipped past the Doctor in leather and exited his ship. He walked a few paces and stared up at the old, majestic white building, rising into the grey morning a block from the alley where he'd parked. At least he'd nailed the landing. One thing gone right that day.

The younger man flanked him and did his own sensory assessment.

"Wha' is it then?"

"No idea."

"Why're you here?"

"Got a call to - er - pick someone up," he hedged.

Big-ears snorted. "Turnin' the TARDIS into taxi service, are we?"

"No." He thought about how often River had summoned him to pick her up from who-the-hell-knows-where. "Shut up. Why are you still here?"

"Who?"

"You, you great, leathery prat! Why are _you_ still here?"

"Tha's polite. Height of manners, you."

"Manners have skipped our regenerations more often than not," he pointed out with a smirk.

Had he ever had them? He wasn't sure. His eighth body started out well, but, well, after he'd been called back to Gallifrey...

"No, you idiot, who are we meant to be collectin'?" his ninth self wheedled.

"Like I'd tell you. And what do you mean 'we?' There's no 'we,' you're leav-"

"D'you smell tha'?"

The older man sampled the air. "Dusty. Bit like limestone, wouldn't you say?"

The younger nodded, then strode toward the white tower, whipping out his sonic without another word.

"Oi!" he called as he chased himself, "I told you to get out of it! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

There was something very wrong with him and that ridiculous grin that stretched from daft ear to daft ear. Wouldn't even listen to _himself?_ Especially when the himself was older, and wiser, and saying very logical, paradox-avoiding things?

But, of course, that's what kind of man he was, wasn't he?

The Alpha was right, he was hopeless. An utterly daft git. And he tried very hard not to allow the giddy glee of very-bad-very-wrong impending adventure to distract him from the fact that he really should not go further with this…

...but all the kids were out there…

...and so was he.

Well, better he was there to make sure nothing went squiffy, right?

He hurried after himself and into...

"UNIT?"


	21. Bad Wolf Rising

**A/N: I own a lovely set of tea things - not Doctor Who. And if I did, this or some of my other favorite fics would be canon. Just sayin'.  
**

**The Fray is a poem by Jon Treloar. Kills me with four simple lines. Then skates all over my insides.**

**The Alpha came across it once in a library in Pete's World and ripped the page out to carry around with her in her coat pocket along with her father's watch. She's morbid like that. Also, very disrespectful of books, apparently.  
**

**I dislike the concept of a 'War Doctor.' Nothing against John Hurt, he gave a superb performance, I just completely hate the concept. **

**Why would the Doctor do that? **

**Why the hell wouldn't he do what the Doctor _does_ and try to fight as a man who is never cowardly or cruel? Rubbish. **

**So I've nixed it... because, dammit, I am the Ultimate Authority of this story, and I can. So there.  
**

**Yes, I stuck my tongue out when I wrote that.**

**Anyway, this is the Eighth Doctor. As it should be IMHO. **

**I mean, _Paul McGann!_ **

Preparing soapbox; bear with me a moment:

**The transformation from "poet" -er- ******I put in "poet" because Eight is full of deep-feels and passion, not necessarily because he writes it. I can't think of anything to indicate he does. Generally, we associate the poet-type persona with Eight-ish qualities, so this is often how I think of him-** anyway, transformation from poet to soldier is such a heartbreaking and poignant dichotomy which they totally dismissed by turning him into a different man. ******Sure, the choice to regenerate into "the War Doctor" was a bit of that, albeit a total bone-thrown cop-out, but keeping the eighth Doctor would've spoken to real life parallels in which real people face the evils of war (à la All Quiet on the Western Front,) leaving not only mountains of death in their wake, but generations of ruined hearts and minds. ****

****Why? ****

****Why make it easier on our hero by regenerating him into someone pre-programmed by The Sisterhood to withstand the horror? Why not allow us to see how badly it affected such a genial, loving man? Give us truth in our craving for art! Do you think we will not love him? I promise you, we will. And it will break our hearts and open some eyes.  
****

**They missed out on something profound.**

**.  
**

**Some of the dialog is directly from the 50th and was genius and needed to be left alone. Other bits are quite original to this story, and some are modified to fit 8 and/or the story.**

* * *

The Alpha watched, with aching hearts, as the brilliant flash of blue from the supercharged vortex manipulator transported Captain Jack Harkness from her life, and into what she knew would be agonising torture and death.

He'd come back to life, and that very unnatural act would serve to create the pinhole in the timelock. The delayed programming would take him back to safety while she threw herself into danger and uncertainty.

None of it felt real, and yet, time seemed to be moving forward with a steam engine's certainty which belied the surreal quality of her experience.

She expelled a great gust of air from her stuttering lungs, and ignored the tears burning in the backs of her eyes as she prepared her ship to navigate through the rift.

Running around the console, flipping switches, and pushing buttons, she frantically chased the moment threatening to leave her behind in her grief and guilt.

Finally, only the dematerialisation lever was left, and she hesitated before it, hands shaking, hearts pounding. One more practised movement meant no going back.

"Once more into the fray," she whispered, and swallowed at the lump in her throat caused by the fear temporarily paralysing her.

"Into the last good fight I'll ever know."

She threw the lever with determined force, and the sequence began.

"Live and die on this day. Live and die _on this day._"

The second she entered the rift, the TARDIS began blaring warnings.

The rift energy was flooding in, and the young ship had little in the way of defence systems to stem the tide that could potentially overload the Little Girl, and ultimately cause her to explode.

They tumbled and pitched.

The ship was shaking apart!

She held tight to the controls as the gravity shorted in and out, momentarily frozen by the realisation that she may have made a critical mistake.

They were _dragging_ through the rift, not slipping through smoothly, and it was bad. Very, so very, very bad. At this rate, the vibrations would tear them apart in three minutes and fifty-two seconds.

What had she missed?

Exploding was very much to be avoided at all costs as it would not only kill her, her beloved ship, and her mum, but the force would rip the entire rift apart like water and dry ice in a sealed plastic bottle. Who knew how many planets would be ripped apart with it, or if it would be enough to do worse? Damage the fabric of reality? End everything full stop? Certainly if an explosion happened in the Doctor's TARDIS that would be the case, but she fervently hoped her own was too young to be so powerful.

She furiously ran around the controls, losing footing as the gravity cut out, and slamming her face on the console when it came back again, venting the building pressure in every way she could manage. She managed to get it moving back out again by reversing the polarity of the radiation stabilisers, but the Little Girl was still two ticks from vibrating into oblivion.

It was going to be a very long - er - short, actually, short and potentially roasty trip if she didn't solve the shaking issues quickly.

Part of her desperately mourned the loss of Torin, who would have had this sorted in a trice with a laugh at her stupid panic, and another was incredibly relieved he and Lios weren't there in the danger she faced.

Adrenaline coursing like bitter wine through her veins, she willed her hysteria into submission, and in a stroke of inspiration, jettisoned all rooms but the console to streamline her ship and boost her speed. They needed to be riding the peak of the energy wave, not getting tubed any moment in the barrel. They just needed less friction.

The effect was instantaneous.

Selene was thrown violently to the grating as the ship doubled in speed, and quickly settled into fluid flight.

She lifted her head up off the floor and scowled at the Rotor Column before dropping her head back with a sigh of relief. She winced as she put pressure on the lump forming on the back of her head, but at least she wasn't in a billion cosmic pieces.

Good Lord, that had been terrifying!

Another alarm blared, and she was on her feet quicker than a cat, and at the monitor. They were seconds from the Time Lock.

No sooner had she thought about trying to brace herself than she was hurled to the floor again, and more alarms were adding to the cacophony of groans and bangs surrounding her.

She was tossed to the ceiling like a rag doll, hitting the walls in three separate places before the whole ship impacted solid ground with a bang, and she was on the grating once more.

The silence was nearly as frightening as the commotion had been.

She felt a trickle of blood running down her forehead and the bridge of her nose.

Both wrists were badly sprained and scraped, and the knees of her trousers had seen better days. Pale, bleeding skin peeked out of the splits in the black twill, and one kneecap had a sandy feeling inside like she'd shattered a bit of bone.

She had definitely bitten all the way through her bottom lip, and she was certain one of the hits to the wall had dislocated her left shoulder. Fortunately, the subsequent hit had popped it back into place, but it would hurt for a while, and she'd jettisoned the new infirmary.

Not that she had had any supplies in it with which to tend herself, but...

"Still kickin', ain't I?" she murmured to herself as she wiped at the blood on her face with her sleeve, then gingerly peeled off her coat to further examine her throbbing shoulder.

_ That you are. But you're tough as nails. Make your brothers cry, you do. _

Her head snapped up in the direction of the time rotor, and she ignored the throbbing pain and wooziness it caused. "Mum?"

_ Hello, sweetheart._

"Mum! Oh, Mum!" she cried as she felt her mother's essence in her mind again. "I was properly scared somethin' had gone wrong! Not with the flight - well, with tha' too, but I couldn't feel you an', oh, I was really scared, Mum. So scared."

_ Selene, we don't have much time, so listen. I'm being pulled away. There's something here. It's singing to me and I'm going to find it. Don't leave the ship if you can help it. If you don't hear from me again soon, get out._

"No! I can't! I can't jus' leave you! An' wha' d'you mean somethin's singin' to you? An' how're you supposed to leave? You don't exactly have legs or anythin'! None of this makes sense! Mum!"

Silence reigned like a cruel tyrant.

"_Mum!_" she screamed again, then cursed in as many languages as she could remember after hitting her head so hard.

* * *

.

* * *

The man in the battered coat, with the battered boots matching his battered soul, strode purposefully through the desolate Barren Lands.

The twin suns, high in the orange sky, blazed mercilessly overhead as he trudged through the loose sands of his ruined home world. No cool breezes brought him relief from the sweltering heat, though the man knew he deserved none in any case.

He would not even wish the planet itself to have mercy for him any longer.

In a sack thrown over his shoulder so he didn't quite have to look at, or really face it yet, was the deadliest thing in creation.

Or did _he_ have the right to that title now?

It fit well among the others, he supposed in his despondence.

No, this would be the title which bathed all the others in a sea of blood and shame.

This would be the title he would wear into death, and the one which, mercifully, no one would ever remember.

He'd long ago lost the right to carry the mantle of his own choosing, so why not?

Genocidal Maniac had a certain flare.

He shook his head bitterly, cursing the universe and all her cruelty. He had long since forgotten the feel of the jaunty curls which once bounced and bobbed when he shook his head or laughed.

Granted, it had been a very long time since he'd had such carefree, long hair, and even longer since he'd had the urge to genuinely laugh.

It had been, after all, a very long and brutal war, and he was a bitter, bitter man.

Once, he might have been called jaunty himself; laughter and exuberance effortless, integral, one might even say connate. However, like the sands blowing through the Barrens, stealing over its borders and throttling all that once grew rich and red, bloodshed, famine, and death stripped away gentility, supplanted joy, and murdered passion.

With any luck, he'd be very dead soon, and not care a jot about how many years it had been since he'd found anything truly humorous, or that nothing would ever be more than ash in his mouth after this day.

Romana had come to him in the utmost secret - a mere five hours and fifty-two minutes before - with the President's key into the Omega Arsenal, and a plea upon her lips for him to make an impossible choice.

Once, he might have vehemently refused. Once, he may have believed nothing in the universe could warrant such drastic measures. Once, he would have moved the heavens and all the planets to avoid what she was asking of him. Once he would have found a way.

But then, once, he was another sort of man.

He felt the eerie cold of prying eyes upon him, and spun on his heel in the loose sand to try to spot the voyeur of his death march.

It would never do to be stopped now. As horrible as the prospect before him truly was, the alternative...

Seeing no one, and feeling unreasonably paranoid, he resumed his trek, but sped his pace, nonetheless.

Anyone come to stop him wouldn't be able to hide long in this place of burning dunes and nothingness. He'd chosen it for its very bleakness.

Perhaps some part of him which still held onto feeble romantic notions, thought it poetic. It mirrored his very soul. To flee, with so many lives in his hands, into such an infertile realm held a dramatic sense of irony. The procession, so very long and tedious, would afford him time to think- or, well, abuse himself relentlessly, but all of his dismal recriminations were well deserved.

Yet, a still larger portion of his reasoning said it was pragmatic. No one would venture there.

So why did he still feel like someone was following?

He quickly stopped, and took in his surroundings again.

Desert as far as the eye could see.

Perhaps he was finally cracking. Perhaps this was the final straw, and wasn't that just marvellous?

He'd seen countless scores of Gallifrey's children slaughtered in the fall of Arcadia - mere hours before - when the final barriers protecting his people crumbled beneath the overwhelming fleets of Daleks; their small bodies crumpling in agony, like so much useless fodder, while evil embodied screamed their foul battle cries of _EX-TER-MINATE._ He watched, in helpless horror, as the citadel of the Shining World of Seven Systems burned, and exploded into smoking ruins, never again to glow like the crowning jewel of the majestic red and orange planet of his birth.

He had believed then that _that_ had done it, had utterly broken him - how could it not? - as his mind repeated the words still haunting him with every one of his pleading heartsbeats...

_ No more, no more, no more, no more. _

But now, he was plodding toward his unfathomable task to kill everyone and everything, only breaking further, and positive he was being watched, though he honestly couldn't be more alone, both literally and figuratively.

Apparently, the madness before was just the first course, and _this_ was the main.

He was losing it. Had lost it. Would lose it entirely.

"Hello? Is somebody there?" he called out to the lonely dunes, almost noncommittal in the wake of the stealing numbness.

If someone was going to try to kill him, he wished they'd just get on with it.

"It's nothing," came the cheeky reply from behind in a youthful, sing-song voice. "It's just a wolf."

Directly behind.

So close it was practically in his ear.

He spun around again, kicking up a spray of burning sand, the bag he carried nearly slipping from his shaking hands, and came face to face with a ragged-looking, blonde woman with golden eyes, and a smile upon her full lips.

He let the cloth bag fall to his side as he studied her.

Her clothing was dirty - once white, and now spattered with dirt and soot - torn in countless places, and he couldn't decide whether she looked like a refugee, or just a madwoman.

She was beautiful, oh, yes, beautiful and _terrible_, and he was sure he'd seen her somewhere in his dreams.

Perhaps, she was a harbinger of madness. His madness.

Yes, he was most definitely going utterly mad now, he was sure. And wasn't it all very convenient? Her being there to bring it on and confirm its legitimacy, all in one fell swoop.

There were worse things to hallucinate, he supposed. Daleks, and nightmares which took the shape of children, and power hungry Time Lords- all fine examples of worse. A pretty woman was more than generous of his brain, considering the hell he knew; the hell he was about to unleash.

"You don't exist," he said to the blonde woman, as if that settled the matter entirely.

"Rude!" she barked with arched eyebrows furrowed. "I very much exist! Will exist. Have always existed. I've never been good with tenses."

"Can you do me a great favour and exist elsewhere then?" He took up the sack once more and turned his back to her to continue his walk. "I'm a little preoccupied, if you don't mind."

"Part of me would very much like to slap you," she said through narrowed golden eyes, dogging his steps. "The part I borrowed, I think. Shall I?"

He stopped again and looked down at the ragged woman. "I'd rather you didn't - unless somehow it made you disappear."

The spectre grinned playfully, shook her mane of wild, gold curls, and resumed walking.

He caught up to her in two short strides, and they fell into silent step while his thoughts strayed back to the brutality of war and the grim task at hand. At least, if he was insane, and she all just a conjuring of his deranged mind, he wouldn't be alone.

Did imaginary people count as company?

Didn't matter. She was there, and he apparently wasn't getting rid of her.

After a time - of which he hardly cared to calculate the exact length, though it had been long - the weary madman and his apparition came to a burned out shed, near a large sandstone boulder in the middle of the barrens, and he halted their journey.

He removed the bag from his shoulder, carefully setting it on the ground.

The cloth fell away, and he averted his tortured blue eyes from it.

He couldn't look at it just yet. Couldn't yet reconcile himself to his grisly task.

He needed a moment, no pun intended.

Movement in the corner of his vision caught his attention, and, before he knew it, he was shouting once more at the strange, golden-haired being who had followed him for miles on end through a doomed wasteland.

"Don't sit on that!" he cried.

What was she thinking? Did she think? Did her form have any substance? Why did he care? Wouldn't her error save him the effort of pushing the button himself?

"Why not?" she asked mildly, crossing her tattered-stocking-covered legs, and tilting her head like an inquisitive wolf pup.

"Because, ingenious child, it's not a chair!" he exclaimed, though part of him reasoned she wasn't actually real, so his point was of little import. "It's the most dangerous weapon in the universe!"

"Why can't it be both?" she grinned.

He huffed and rolled his eyes. "Is that supposed to be a metaphor for something?" His mind would behave like a mischievous mistress, wouldn't it?

"Don't know." She shrugged, but stood and moved away from the box covered in the intricate writing of his people. "Maybe. Do you want it to be? That's how metaphors work, right?"

He scowled and ignored her to mentally prepare himself. He began to pace and he let his thoughts stray into his darkness.

"Why'd you park so far away?" the blonde apparition asked innocently, strange eyes scanning the shed for Omega knew what. "Didn't you want her to see it?"

"Want whom to see what?" he bit out, angry that she couldn't just give him some peace.

She rolled her eyes and regarded him like he was utterly dense. "The _TARDIS_. You walked for miles and miles. And miles and miles and _miles_-"

"I was thinking!" he snapped, their gazes meeting and locking with nearly tangible gravity.

"And I heard you."

"You _heard_ me?" Yes. He was insane. Officially. Unequivocally. Irrevocab-

"Ye-p," the apparition replied with a feral grin. _"No more."_

Suddenly the weapon at her feet came to life with a burning, intense light.

Without thinking, he dived toward her to protect her, shielding her body with his own. She nimbly side-stepped him before he could touch her, then hopped up with graceful ease on a broken moisture collection machine in the midst of piles of other broken machines, and watched him with playful, if inappropriate, amusement.

"It's activated. Get out of here!" he commanded, not really knowing why- only that no matter how battle-hardened he had become, he could not abandon his value for life.

Still, it would kill everything, including her, no matter where she ran.

He reached out to examine the weapon, trying in all desperate haste to find a way to stop it or slow it, but pulled his hands back as it burned his fingers.

"Ow!"

"What's wrong?" she asked sweetly.

"The interface is hot!" he replied angrily with his fingers in his mouth.

"Well, I do my best for my Doctor," she giggled - really, apparitions should _not_ be allowed to giggle, even if one _was_ going a bit around the bend - stood, and affected a mock bow from atop her perch.

His eyes fixed themselves on hers and he held his breath.

"_You're_ the interface?"

She jumped down from her seat on the debris and started pacing a slow, almost hypnotic circle around him.

"They must have told you the Moment had a conscience."

She waggled her fingers at him.

"Hello!" she grinned, her chin tucked and lashes batting coyly. "Oh, you poor, silly Time Lord, look at you. Stuck between a girl and a box. Story of your life, eh, my Doctor?"

"Y-you know me?"

_ "I hear you,"_ she corrected. She touched her temple with a slender finger. "All of you. Jangling around in that dusty, old head of yours."

He collapsed back onto his bum and raked his fingers through his sweaty hair. He was prepared for his own madness. He was not prepared to be held in judgement by the Moment.

"I chose this face and form especially for you," she informed. "It's from your past." She cocked her head again, "Or possibly your future. I always get those two mixed up."

"I don't _have_ a future."

She ignored him and resumed her predatory, cat-like patrol around him and the weapon. "I think I'm called... Rose Tyler." She shook her mane once again. "No. Yes, no. Sorry, no. No, in this disembodied form, I'm called... Bad Wolf."

Her eyes flared golden and he couldn't help the tremor which ran down his spine.

"Are you afraid of the big Bad Wolf, my Doctor?"

_ "Stop calling me_ _Doctor_."

"Oh?" she stopped and bent before him, bringing their faces within inches of each other. "That's the name in your head. The one you can't fully let go. That's the name the Bad Wolf recognises."

"It shouldn't be," he choked, rolling away from her and getting to his feet. "I've been fighting this war for a long time. I've lost the right to be the Doctor." He began to pace in his frustration. "And Bad Wolf, Bad Wolf! What is Bad Wolf exactly?"

"Salvation," she purred.

"What possible salvation lies in total destruction?"

"You tell me."

"I..." he stopped and looked at his grimy hands. "I no longer know... but I know what must be done."

"Then you're the one to save us all?" she purred from over his shoulder.

"Yes." He had steel in his gaze and the once-handsome and gentle features bore the weight of the universe.

The interface made a rude noise and giggled again. "If I ever develop an ego, my Doctor, you've got the job."

"If you have been inside my head, then you know what I've seen."

He was practically begging her then, though she probably understood far more than he would ever begin to fathom. He craved absolution; wanted her to tell him he was making the right choice- that indeed no other option was left.

"The _suffering._ Every moment in time and space is burning! It _must_ end. I intend to end it the only way I can."

"And you're going to use _me_ to end it?" she posed with a seriousness she had not yet displayed. "By killing them all - Daleks and Time Lords alike? I could. Maybe I even will, but there _will_ be consequences for you." She seemed to grow more terrible and otherworldly as every syllable left her lips.

He swallowed but met her assessing stare with no hint of fear or self-preservation. "I have no desire to survive this."

"Then that's your punishment," she spat. "If you do this - if you kill them all - that is your consequence. You _live._ Gallifrey _burns._ Your people _burn._ And all those Daleks and nightmares burn with them- but all those children too."

He flinched, seeming to waver in his resolve.

"How many children are on Gallifrey right now?"

The thought made him want to be sick.

"I-I don't know."

"One day you will count them," she informed, as she moved in circles around him. "One terrible night, you will see all of their faces and count them. Every. Last. One. Do you want to see what that will turn you into?"

She looked at him in doubtful appraisal, as if his very soul lay bared before her and she could see every wanting facet - well, she probably could.

He did not care took look himself. He knew how blackened and broken he was inside. Why would he ever want to see the monster she was dooming him to become? How could any punishment be as cruel?

And yet, it was no more than he deserved.

"Come on," she wheedled in her soft, disarming voice which belied the unimaginable power within. "Aren't you curious? I'm opening windows on your future, just once, and allowing you this _one_ peek. A tango in time through the days to come... to the man today will make of you. What do you say? Do you dare?"

She raised her hand and the Moment glowed brightly once again.

A shimmering ripple in the atmosphere next to them appeared at her beckoning.

Both of them turned to look through the strange rip the interface had opened. A half a second later a jaunty, red fez came sailing through.

The Bad Wolf girl tilted her head in amusement. "Okay, I wasn't expecting that."

* * *

**** A/N Completely ignore-able note that I can't seem to stop writing because it's 1AM and apparently that means I have diarrhea of the keyboard.  
**

**This friggin' analogy! I couldn't part with it. It's my one homage, even though it is blatantly surfer culture based, just shy of cohesive, and very biased to my own upbringing near Malibu and Ventura (yes, I'm a native Southern Californian, no, not a 'Valley girl' and I do not say 'like' and 'totally' every other word - not even 'Valley girls' actually do. 'Dude,' on the other hand... I admit, I have a problem) where we could surf nearly any day of the year, but the swells were most epic in the gray mornings of early autumn and surfers practically fly up swells to the peaks like graceful water birds in black neoprene. Dude. You had to be there every morning shredding the gnar so hard, touching the barrel but not getting tubed like it was alive or something, bro. So awesome. **

**Right. I'm getting old. **

**Actually, I'm terrified of the ocean, but both of my older brothers surfed religiously, and we really talked like that while we grew up, so it's ingrained in me now, and I couldn't help but use the imagery even if it really, honestly shouldn't be there. **

**But hey, now if someone says, "Dude, I got tubed!" you know it means clobbered by the whitewater of a wave while trying to surf in the lower part rather than the lip or face. Right, just leave that at clobbered by a wave - in both the literal and figurative senses, of course.  
**

** I spent many, many mornings on the beach at Leo Carrillo, Mondos, Port Hueneme, and Seaside when the swells were best. My bros (whom I call Brother or Bro more often than their actual names, my sister is also Sister or Sis) surfing, and me watching them practically fly... or bail, or get tubed... and I had my a book and shades... on land.  
**

**Because, Jaws. And tans. And Older Brothers with shark stories, whose job it is to torment little sisters. Mercilessly.  
**

**I live far from the ocean now... with deep snow in March, zero shark sightings, and no tans. And when I exclaim, "Dude!" in everyday conversation as an expression of joy, wonder, despair, rage, agreement, disagreement, or shocked disbelief, people think I'm being funny. **

**Oh, how little they actually realise.**


	22. Odd Doctors and Stone Dust

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor any of the characters that, in the reality I like to ignore, are the intellectual and artistic property of the BBC and its affiliates. I do rather enjoy mucking about with them though.**

**The Liiibrary is now open because reading is fuundamental. **

**Seriously, writing the Doctors together keeps me laughing constantly! It's more fun than - than - um... Oh! Dogs and spoonfuls of peanut butter.  
**

**Nailed it.**

**I liked some of the bits with the Zygons in DOTD, if only for nostalgia, however, I didn't care for a lot (most) of it too, soooo wielding more of that Ultimate Authority and changing things, 'cos, really? **

**If the Zygons had the tech to preserve themselves, **

**1: Why would they choose 2013? We're not even exploring space, not really, not like a Zygon would want. We've got nothin' but Bill Nye's theories and projects - which didn't get enough funding until recently (as in 2015, not 2013) and _still haven't been built._ **

**2: How do they have that incredibly advanced tech but no other type? **

**C: They could've gotten into the Black Archive anytime by just kidnapping Kate and impersonating her, why'd they wait at all? And really? They wanted the _vortex manipulator?_ All that hoarded tech and it was the stupid _vortex manipulator?_ The one that Jack 'bequeathed' to _UNIT,_ not Torchwood? Nope. Lame. And didn't it _burn out_ on a jump in an episode of Torchwood? I had Selene _fix it, _not just put in a code to make it work. **

**And lastly: They didn't exactly go with Zygon history in *_Doctor Who canon.*_ Zygons were all over the place through many subsequent centuries _and_ Zygons lived many centuries needing only a lactic fluid for survival. It's not like they couldn't have gotten any tech they needed by just, you know, looking out for when_ they'd_ be on Earth. If they were hell-bent on taking the planet over, co-existing was off the table no matter what - even _if_ they didn't know who was human and who was Zygon, what was to stop them reneging once the treaty was made? And they just could've done it centuries earlier by having some rudimentary knowledge of their own species' history! **

**...Oh God, I think I just officially entered Sheldon Cooper status in my nerdiness... **

**Still! Give me an alien threat that makes sense! And, hello? Writers for the show! Do your Who research! We notice this stuff.  
**

**Plus, this way, I get to explore a new creature and possibly some others we know as well...**

* * *

His leather-clad counterpart was grinning again, and waving his little black leather wallet around at reception when he strode in after.

Oh, blast it all! When did he ever behave like that? Was that really - he didn't remember being so ridiculous then - _goofy_ even! He didn't remember being...

Well, at least he'd outgrown _that._

He'd actually thought he'd been rather dark and cool- like that vampire with a soul, with the hair, and the leather-

Wait, no, vampires were definitely _not_ cool, and they didn't actually behave like Angel, even if Angel _was_ cool. Angel wasn't real, but vampires were. They were aliens and not the fun kind, he should know, after all, just ask Romana- er- no, couldn't anymore, but vampires were bad. Not the good bad either.

He was cool though. Him, the Doctor. Now. Currently.

Much cooler than when he'd grinned at people like this with the teeth, and the eye crinkling, and the pushy waving about of psychic paper.

Still, he had been rather brazen and roguish, and Rose had liked him, ears and all - and he certainly had the poor girl at the desk on her feet in a hurry, though she had just looked up at him a bit wide-eyed- the _himself_ him, the now him-

Blimey, he hated being around his other incarnations. Personal pronouns always became complete chaos.

-before she left.

"Thought we agreed you were leavin'," the younger man said with the familiar scowl back in place now that no humans were around to charm with goofy grins, and crinkly blue eyes.

"Me?" He nearly choked on nothing. "_I'm_ meant to be leaving? No, no, no! You- I… _I_ was here first!"

"I was in London first."

"To do bonfires and_ fireworks!_"

"Still here first, Bow-tie."

"Very mature," he groused. "What about Rose then?"

"Wha' about her?" the other him retorted defensively. "She's with her mother, safe as houses."

"You don't know that!" he shot back. "What - what if - I mean... It would be in her _best interest_ if one of us goes and keeps her safe. Whatever this is, it certainly doesn't need _two_ of us. Oh, I know!"

Oh, he was brilliant.

And slightly horrible.

_"You_ choose the Doctor who goes to her," he grinned like the cat who'd caught the canary, "though suddenly, I do hope it's me."

"You'd never."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" he challenged with a mad glint in his sparkling, green eyes. "Never did tell you how old I am. I might be your very last regeneration. Rose may never see this face. Maybe this face has never seen hers. Or perhaps, I have seen her, but never so _very_ young and innocent."

The younger man's face flushed with anger and his ears turned beetroot red as the man he would become continued mercilessly.

"Do you know how eager that would make me - _any_ man really, but especially me- you- us- to see her again... as she is now?"

Big-ears looked murderous, but still he pushed.

"I happen to know you haven't told her about regeneration. Fancy explaining all this to her?"

The shorter, but more solidly built Doctor advanced a few steps toward him, and he feared he was in very real danger of bodily injury. Daft Ears was livid.

"I promise you I'll leave it to you entirely," he insisted despite his surety he was in for a good punch in the face, "she's currently _your_ companion after all."

The younger Doctor, clenched his fists at his sides, ground his teeth together, and cursed in their native tongue in a effort to control his rage before turning his leathery back to the arse in tweed.

"You're a right bloody wanker, y'know tha'?"

"I've been told often enough lately, thanks very much," he mumbled moodily in return.

It'd been one of the first things Selene had ever said to him after all, and it was as true then as it was currently. He hadn't liked saying any of it, but he knew it'd make the idiot listen. Rose had always been the key, but he'd never imagined using her to manipulate _himself._

...Alright, maybe he'd done it with his metacrisis as well, but-

Sod it. He really needed to give up the whole line of thinking. Feeling guilty about making himself behave was stupid. It was done.

However, before the Doctor with the wonted broody scowl (now _that_ he actually _did_ remember) could finally go and leave him to his task, a familiar blonde woman in glasses, a sharp suit, and lab coat came striding into the room.

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart bypassed the Doctor in tweed - they hadn't officially met as of yet in her time line, not this him - and walked up to the Doctor she currently recognised with a welcoming smile, and a hand outstretched in greeting. She then glanced his way and he gave her a small nod.

"You're the Doctor as well." She wasn't asking. "I'm very pleased to meet you both," she turned her eyes on the man with the deep blue eyes and smiled indulgently, "though, I believe it was _this_ Doctor who was at Downing Street when you hijacked our missiles to blow it up? I think we also have you to thank for the clean up of Henrik's department store, and the surrounding fire damage. And then the sewer wreckage near the London Eye? Quite fond of explosions this time I take it?"

His ears went a little pink and he grinned sheepishly, then cleared his throat. "Er... Sorry? An' who might you be miss…?"

"Stewart. Kate Stewart. I'm a senior scientist for UNIT, and I've quite wanted to meet you again. My father is Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart."

"Oh, Kate! Young Kate Lethbridge-Stewart!"

"Not so very young anymore, Doctor."

"Nonsense! You're workin' for UNIT now? How's the Brigadier General then? Good'n retired yet? Blimey, he must be gettin' on, though still just a lad compared to the old Doctor, eh?"

The older Doctor was scowling. He mouthed, _"__the old Doctor,"_ silently behind the idiot's back and rolled his eyes.

He'd already had this conversation. Just because the other him was doomed to a wibbly-wobbly repeat in the future didn't mean he wanted to do it again this time around.

"Kate," he interrupted, not actually the least bit sorry, despite his next assertion, "I hate to interrupt and be pushy, but I'm looking for someone, and it can't wait. She said she was here, but I couldn't land inside."

"That's because the Tower is a no fly zone for all craft, both terrestrial, and extraterrestrial. Even the TARDIS. Sorry, Doctor." She, too, looked not sorry in the least. "It isn't personal, just precautions and protocol, you understand."

He really didn't. He didn't care for her attitude regarding the whole business either.

"We haven't had any reports of unauthorised personnel," she continued, oblivious to, or uncaring about his sour feelings over their policies, "is it a member of UNIT you're looking for?"

"No, not as such, no," he hedged with a dark look at the doors separating the tourist attraction from the secret organisation, "but I doubt you'd have found her if she didn't want you to. Only, she sounded like she was… in a spot of trouble to be honest."

"I'm not sure what to tell you Doctor. Is she a missing companion? Human?"

"No, she's not a companion."

It wasn't really a lie. Selene Tyler would murder him if he ever called her that, and the last thing he needed was UNIT poking their noses around the triplets. If anything led back to Rose Tyler, it could spell trouble with the time lines.

"She's out of her time, and I'm just helping her get back home. We ran into a little glitch and this was where she phoned from. Tall dark-haired woman, looks, oh, about twenty, and really doesn't play well with others."

"Are you sure she meant UNIT?" Kate asked while typing in a few notes on an electronic device. "Not the visitor's section above?"

"You sure you got the date right then?" his younger self asked with a satisfied smirk.

"Yes," he hissed.

How one could be so pleased to point out the shortcomings in the man that he'd later become was beyond him.

"I'm sure! My accuracy has infinitely improved since I was you!" He flapped a hand at the him sniggering to his left and turned his attention back to Kate. "What I want to know is if you've caught anyone here in... oh, the last few months even?"

"Pffft. Improved accuracy my-"

"Of course," he interrupted loudly, "I probably should have checked the tourist area first. She might be waiting there even now, but I thought I'd ask."

Kate pulled out her mobile and began scrolling through her numbers. "I can call my connection at Torchwood and check with them too, if you like-"

As she spoke, he saw the door she'd come through open slightly.

Two grinning faces looked out at him. Torin gave him a thumbs up.

He frantically signalled for them to retreat by waving his arms around and glaring.

Kate and Leather and Ears looked up at him.

He played it off as coolly as he could by feigning a good stretch, and started sidling to the door.

"-but the best I can do now is have security do a thorough sweep. You did say she was supposed to be here? We can separate all humans from non through a few scans and identify the one who doesn't belong if she is." She finished her scrolling and started to make the call.

"Not necessary!" he almost yelped before sidestepping Kate, then moving more quickly toward the doors leading into the main headquarters. "She's human! Wouldn't register. Waste of time really. I'd forget the whole thing if I were you. I'll just have a quick look around!"

"Doctor, I can't let-"

"You two - er - we two, stay and - er - chat."

"Oi! Bow-tie!"

"Well done. Won't be two ticks."

He threw himself through the doors as he heard Kate calling after him, and quickly pushed both young men through the first door he could find.

It was a broom closet, so they were rather chock-a-block, but hidden, and hidden was good.

"What're you- Doctor! Can hardly breathe in here, and it smells like chlorine and mildew! _Eurgh!_" Torin moaned. "Ooh, is that a fez?"

The skinny young man bent down along the wall to retrieve it off the floor next to the mops, squashing the other two men further in the process.

"Yes, well, cozy!" the Doctor chirped as his face smashed into the wall.

He righted himself as Torin stood and tried to straighten his bow-tie, only he didn't have the room move his arms.

"Wait, did you say fez? What is it about mops and fezzes? Still..."

He snatched it from Torin's grip, knocking the other two into the walls, and tried to put it on, rather unsuccessfully.

"Oh, forget it. Look, you lot can't be- Oi! _watch_ the elbows! You can't be hanging about! I couldn't get rid of myself, that regeneration was unbelievably stubborn!"

"Oh, really? 'Cos that's not like you now at all, is it?" Torin retorted, trying to shift so he could properly see the other two without knocking over mops and buckets, or putting out anyone's eye. He managed, but ended up with an arm above his head, and no way to put it down.

"Is that important right now, Torin Tyler? Having a go at the old man?"

_ "Both of you_, shut it!" Lios chided as Torin's arm wavered ever closer to knocking him one on the conk. "You're not helping, Torin!"

"Well, I can't get my arm to-"

_"Just stop moving_, _Torin!"_ Lios looked murderous; a glare to make his sister proud.

"Right." Torin froze with his arm in the air above his head, and an expectant look at the Doctor. "So, what's the plan then?"

"I don't have one yet."

"_What?_" Lios exclaimed in total disbelief.

"What do you mean, you 'don't have one yet?'" Torin cried, his voice raising in pitch and his jaw hanging open. His raised arm was also swinging dangerously close to their faces. "How come? You have to have one! You're the Doctor and you always know what to do! What are we supposed to do then?"

"Look, not everyone plans every single second to come!" the Doctor reasoned with not a little annoyance. "I'm just as in the dark as either of you, you know. We have to think on our feet and be creative-"

"But the Al-"

"The Alpha isn't here," he snapped before remembering himself, and lowering his voice in what he intended to be a wise manner, "and what good is all her insistent planning in the end? In the immortal words of Rabbie Burns-"

"Doctor!" Lios scolded.

"Right. Shutting up. Still, point is, plans don't always work, so why bother?"

He had the urge to tug at his fringe but settled for trying to blow upward and flipping it back with a backwards head tilt. He only managed to hit the back of his head on the wall and push into the other two. He found, to his delight, that the momentary shift had been all he needed to free his arm and finally put the fez on his head. Perfect.

The other two looked decidedly less delighted to have been shoved around again for a fez.

"I really don't think that's what that saying means..." Torin's arm gave an impatient little wobble, and his wool clad armpit met with Li's nose. "It means to plan as best you can but, always have something prepared for the worst because often as not-"

_"Torin!" _Lios cried with a small shove at his brother in the direction of the wall - which wasn't a huge distance but Torin scowled just the same. "Shut your gob! And you're _both_ wrong! You're taking it too far out of context! It _means_ human plans, in the grand design, are about as important and foolproof as the plans of a mouse."

"Right." The invitation to debate was too great for the likes of Torin, even in a sardine tin. "Or is it all of them together then? No, Li, I think you're forgetting that we're Time Lords, not humans, so the proverb doesn't apply to _us_ in the least-"

"Since when is a line of poetry a proverb?" Lios argued.

"Well, here in _this_ period of human culture it may still be on the borderline between poetry and proverb, but it's a comparitively short span of years from now that it's regarded like the ramblings of Confucius had been in-"

"Oi!" the Doctor interrupted. "Shut up! Never mind all this drivel! Seriously, for Time Lords, you two need to work on your timing and danger - er - senses. Where's your sense of urgency?"

"You started it!" Torin brought his raised arm down to point at the Doctor and managed to knock his brother on the head in the process.

Lios pushed him into the wall in return.

The Doctor ignored both the accusation and the angry protests of pain from his sons. "What did you find?"

"Not much," Lios admitted as he gingerly checked his nose for blood. "Admittedly, we haven't seen much, but I can't find her here."

"She has to be here, we're just not looking in the right place!" the Doctor retorted hotly.

She'd asked him to trust her. Why wouldn't she be here if she'd asked for his trust? What was she doing? What was going on? Why did thing concerning Selene Tyler always tend toward complicated?

"Can't feel her. She isn't here." Lios repeated more firmly. He knew he'd be able to find his sister if she was anywhere this side of Jupiter. She wasn't there.

"She may still be blocking," he rebutted, more to play Devil's Advocate than with any real conviction.

Torin looked skeptical and tried to reach up to fiddle with his hair or rub at the back of his neck, but too many bodies were in the way and Lios shot him a warning look not to bump him again.

"Weeell, why?" the curly-haired man mused. "Why would she? She said she was wrong, yeah? Before she asked you to come?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Why would she continue to block us out?" Torin continued. "It hurts! No reason _to_ do, and every reason to not. She wanted to be found, and humans aren't telepathic, so having an open connection to one or all of us would be the clever thing to do. She'd_ always_ do the clever thing - on principle even... Unless she couldn't."

"She's being held against her will," Lios said with utter surety. "She doesn't want to put us in danger."

"Perhaps," the Doctor mused, worried, but he had a hunch they were spinning their wheels. "Can't rule it out, but I think your first assessment will prove most likely. She just isn't here."

"Think she was taken?"

"I think she was never here to begin with," he muttered darkly. "Tell me, has Selene ever been held, let alone dragged anywhere against her will for longer than two minutes?"

"Er... sort of. On Olympia they had her for a bit, but it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours at the outside. Still, you never know -"

"You're right," he conceded. "But Occam's Razor."

Lios groaned and nodded, but Torin cocked his head slightly.

The Doctor looked like Torin had dribbled on himself. "The theory says-"

_ "I know about the sodding law of parsimony!" _Torin huffed. "Why would not being here be a better or simpler answer than-"

"It's a smoke screen, Torin," Lios interrupted with a sigh.

"Oh... Can't be! The Alpha-"

"Left us behind," the old man sighed. "The sooner you come to grips with that, the better, Torin Tyler. I know you trusted your sister. Didn't occur to you that she'd be deceitful, did it? And it shouldn't. She has a lot of explaining to do when we find her. You trust me and I trust you, indeed."

"So, what now then?" Torin muttered despondently. He was fighting bitter feelings of betrayal.

"Now, I ditch Ears and Kate, and we go to Cardiff. That was the last place I'm sure she landed."

A knock at the closet door and a call of, "Doctor?" made them all jump and struggle not to cause injury again.

"Stay here_,_ Tylers!" he hissed as he wrestled the mass of Time Lords in over-sized coats and cleaning equipment into a position which might feasibly let him out. He opened the cupboard door and tumbled out in a heap, before closing them in quickly, despite the still-cramped quarters and the objections on both their faces. "Right!" he grinned as he jumped back up. "Not in there, then! Oh, hello! Who might you be?"

"Osgood, sir, I'm an intern here. Miss Stewart was looking for you, sir."

"Nice scarf, Osgood! Love a stripey muffler! Don't trip on it!"

"What were you doing in the broom cupboard, sir?"

"Oh, I'm the Doctor, not sir, Osgood the intern-" he took one of her hands in both of his and gave it a good shake, "though, I was knighted by Queen Victoria once! Oh, and I picked up some readings on one of your mops that seemed suspiciously alien in nature."

He held up his sonic and smiled like a dolt to distract her further.

"Doctor?" She reached into a pocket for a red inhaler. "Are - is it serious? Do we need to quarantine? Should I-"

"Oh, no, it turned out to be a bit of sentient mildew. Nothing to worry about. Been here for ages and no global mildew takeovers have happened, have they? Best to live and let live wherever we can, don't you think?"

"Oi! Bow-tie! Wha' are you playin' at? They're searchin' the whole buildin' now!" Ears strode up to him as he blanched slightly.

The boys didn't have psychic paper or any way of explaining themselves, but they did have sonic screwdrivers so he discretely pulled it out and sealed them in the small closet.

They'd be fine.

He'd apologise later.

"Well, I suppose that's our cue to leave then, they'll sort - er - whatever is happening here in no time."

The younger Doctor surveyed him skeptically, and he gave an inward groan. It was unlikely that his use of the screwdriver had escaped himself and those ruddy ears.

"Or, you just stay and sort it. I have other - you'll have it under control I'm sure. I'll just be going. Now. Away. Don't forget to forget when you're finished."

"Not bloody likely. I still wanna know who you're after. An' why is the dust smell stronger in here than outside?"

"Because your nose is unusually sensitive."

"Oi! Wha's tha' supposed to mean, Chinny? An' wha' _is_ tha' thing on your head?"

"A fez," he replied absently, "you have fezzes to look forward to."

He had a point. It was. He'd been so preoccupied with the boys that he'd ignored that particular sensory observation, and it certainly was out of the ordinary.

Maybe, just a quick look - no!

Oh, sometimes having a time machine-made bad things so tempting.

What was he doing? He had other-

But it really was more than curious, wasn't it? And he did have a time machine…

Because it was suspicious even, since none of the stone in the area was so heavy on the limestone, and that was definitely nearly the only type he was picking up…

Oh, hell, they could have been tiling a floor!

Well, no… not with _that_ amount of airborne particulate matter. It was way too much. They'd have to be tiling every surface and grinding most of the tiles into nothing.

Still, perhaps they were only doing an experiment that required-

"You look like Gollum an' Smeagol when you do tha'. 'S quite funny, actually."

"Oi! Can you help what your face does when you're having an internal debate? And _I'm_ the wan-"

"Gentlemen, we have a problem," a UNIT officer in military garb informed them. "Miss Stewart gave orders for you both to be brought to her office immediately."

Daft Ears grinned at him mischievously again, and fell in line with the exiting soldier, a spring in his step.

He viciously tugged back at the fringe that had fallen into his eyes, and huffed.

He really hated himself.

.


	23. Traitors' Gate

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who.**

**We have Ten ladies and gents! **

**I've been very excited, and rather worried about writing him. He's generally the favourite, isn't he, and I'm not nice to my characters. **

**Not that I'm mean, I'm just not nice, and Ten has some deeeemons at this point. There was never a chance I wasn't going to rattle their cages. It gave me a chance to reconcile with him a little, because I gotta tell you, he kinda wrecked me and it was hard to forgive. Exploring his head allowed me to watch JE through his death without scowling at everyone and everything for days, and I gained some acceptance and love for Tentoo (I wrote Jailbreak and some other short musings in a burst of writer's affection.) And, he was just honestly fun, and is proving to continue to be fun as I go in later chapters.  
**

**...He's just not going to marry Queen Bess. I'm sorry if you enjoyed that bit, but it isn't happening. Mainly because no. I cannot even. You don't understand how many of the 'even's I simply cannot. Just, no. Nooooooo. Insert clip of Steve Carell shouting 'No' here. No. Grumpy cat no. No. Luke Skywalker to Darth Vader nooooooooooooooooooooo.**

**First of all, Queen Elizabeth had, wait for it, f*cking _Smallpox_ the year Moffat set the 50th and she nearly died. Second, she was in the middle of at least two wars. Third, SHE DID NOT CHASE HUSBANDS AND WAS NOT SOME SIMPERING TWIT. She was a badass, and the most powerful woman in the world at the time. Her portrayal was... odious to me. She was a cheap laugh and a convenient plot foil. Lazy writing. Lazy research. Baaaaad television. This one's another Blood Grudge, Moffat. Pistols. At dawn... and I warn you, I'm a helluva shot.**

**Oh, you guys are so awesome for putting up with me.**

**But, really... No.**

* * *

.

* * *

The Doctor had been in his share- weeeellllll, maybe a tad more than his share- of prison cells, but his accommodations in the Tower of London were a definite first.

He'd visited it before, sure, he'd done the tourist thing at times. Once, he was even hauled there when Henry the Eighth threw a parson's nose at him and he'd thrown it back, but that was lifetimes ago when he'd _wanted_ to be locked in. And... perhaps it had been due to his "advanced age" at the time, but he hadn't been trussed up and shipped in through the Traitors' Gate with a bag on his head and chains between his legs.

No. All of that had been a first.

Who knew when he'd suggested to Rose Tyler she see a little more of her own country's history, that a generation later they'd still want him for the kidnapping of the "future Queen of England?"

_ Never go back with the same face when they want you for treason._

Of course, now they had him for treason _and_ witchcraft.

Time travel, in this period, wasn't an exactly believable reason for looking like he hadn't aged a day.

Well, he'd only been curious - _and curiosity kills the cat in a nun's wimple, doesn't it?_ \- what the fuss was all about after they'd tried to arrest him when he'd met Shakespeare.

It was clear now, wasn't it?

He was a traitor to the crown because the aforementioned bloody Henry (the man was nothing but trouble for the Doctor, every time they met) couldn't keep his grubby, ginger hands off Rose and, well, that wasn't his fault! They were always going to leave, she shouldn't have meddled!

...Never mind the stupid wager they'd made...

The current Queen of England would never have been born if the Doctor had just let Henry marry Rose -_ his_ Rose Tyler, damn it.

Of course, Anne Boleyn would probably still have her head, and Dame Rose might've been the (now headless) mother of the current ruler of England - but that wasn't how it was supposed to happen! And there was just no way he was letting an axe-happy, philandering, _ginger_ monarch have _his_ Rose Tyler.

He'd been seething with jealousy- not that he'd ever have admitted it- and Rose had thought it a very fine joke. She had been resplendent in the gown the TARDIS had provided her, and she knew it.

Unfortunately (for him then and now,) she was also just Henry's type; golden and luscious- er, luscious?

He meant-

Yes! He meant luscious. No issues admitting it now, was there? Gorgeous. Gorgeous, and a cheeky, cheeky minx.

No doubt she'd've thought all this was incredibly hilarious as well.

Except the bucket for a toilet and the rats.

She'd've hated that.

Yet, he was the one facing the chopping block, alone, and Rose… wasn't with him to laugh and make it better; make it worth it- worth the smells, and the soreness he'd never admit to feeling, the impending death sentence and public execution full of the throwing of rotten vegetables- well, maybe not execution. But that didn't matter because if she _were_ with him, they'd laugh, and he'd have another pair of hands to grab his sonic screwdriver from his pocket- and he was a dirty, horrible, dirty old man for the guilty pleasure _that_ little act would've afforded him, as well as the bad jokes he knew she'd have made. _Is tha' a sonic in your pocket, Doctah, or are you 'appy to see me?_ \- and then they'd be out and running hand-in-hand back to the TARDIS in a trice.

Instead, he was most definitely alone. No Rose and her obvious, but charming innuendo. No one to help him out of his mess.

He was stuck.

In the White Tower.

Awaiting execution.

It must've been a Tuesday.

He'd been grabbed by guards on his way through the city and sentenced by Sir William Cecil upon sight. Apparently, they were to take no risks where he was concerned. They didn't want him giving them the slip again.

If only he could get an audience with Queen Elizabeth, he was sure he could - erm - charm his way out of this.

What? He was charming in this body!

He'd stopped worrying about whether or not he should be using it to his advantage long ago, and lately, if there was a line somewhere in there, he'd stopped caring.

He cursed loudly at the heavy ropes binding his hands and arms that prevented him from reaching into his coat pockets for his sonic.

Landing there at all had been for a lark. He knew Ood Sigma awaited him. He knew that his song was ending, and he just wanted a little more time!

Just a little more time and a little more fun!

Was that so very much to ask for a Time Lord with a finite amount of bloody time left? Time to live?

It wasn't fair! How many worlds had he saved? How often had he been hurt and lost people he loved? How many times had he been a hero - a _hero!_ And _this_ was his bloody reward!

This was utter bollocks.

Perhaps this _was_ where his song ended. It wasn't like he knew how it would happen. He only really knew that he would at some unspecified time. He'd been running from it long enough to know that no one had carved dates in a headstone for him.

Perhaps he'd die - headless! - for taking Rose away from someone who loved- weeell, maybe that was a stretch; Henry the Eighth was a bit narcissistic and sociopathic to really feel love for Rose Tyler, or anyone, really- but he had always taken her from the people who loved her and look what he'd done to her as a result.

He'd stranded her in another universe!

He hoped she was happy. He hoped, oh, he really hoped she was alright. At least he'd given her back in the end. He'd left her, yes, but with her mother and someone he knew loved her so very much.

He hadn't been known to always do that. He'd ruined so many permanently. Wasn't it what he'd done to all the Children of Time? Wasn't that just his modus operandi?

Tegan. Nyssa. Katarina. Adric. Jack. Peri. Reinette. Turlough. Astrid. Sara and Bret. Ace. Martha. Donna… Adelaide Brook… And he could go on and on.

And all without even mentioning what he had taken from his own race... Or countless others.

He selfishly took good people from their homes to keep him company, and made their lives messy, complicated, unrecognisable, and often pure hell.

He made their lives like his own.

Made them all into little soldiers in his personal war.

When he had regenerated into this body, he had been so full of love and hope, it had shaped him into a man who wanted to be _good_.

It seems like such a simple thing to be good, such a simple thing to aspire to.

However, the years strip goodness away with choices, and wrong turns, and squiffy bits as surely as rushing waters carve away at stone, leaving empty canyons where your morality once was as solid as granite.

He'd been the most affectionate and compassionate he'd been since he was so very young, and the society on Gallifrey had yet to break him. He... almost felt he recognised himself as the Doctor once more. He came into this him feeling younger and more full of life and possibility than…

But everything had gone wrong.

So wrong. So, so, so, so, so wrong.

And here he was, as bitter and lonely as he could ever remember, hating himself - continuing to give himself _reasons_ to hate himself.

He was in the dark again and he didn't think he'd make it back to the light this time. Bowie Base One had been the final nail in his coffin.

He was a maniac, a killer, and a thief of beauty and innocence; a burglar of time and potential.

The hitch in the works.

Was he even the Doctor anymore?

Or just a madman with the Doctor's face, and death on his heels?

He wasn't sure.

So, maybe losing his head for stealing his- no, not his any longer- for stealing Rose Tyler was fitting, even if he could think of a thousand better deaths, and perhaps…

No, he really wasn't ready to go yet…

Still… peace… it would be over, this torturous existence of his… he could rest… and there'd be little in the way of pain. One swing of the axe and eternity would take him into its cold embrace.

He only wished he could say one last goodbye to the people who loved him despite all his insanity and chaos. To the people he loved.

He would have liked to have seen their faces just one last time.

He was total rubbish at goodbyes, though. What would he say to them?

I'm sorry I cocked up your life?

Thanks for putting up with me?

Sorry, I can't make anything better, not really?

Maybe saying nothing and slipping quietly into forgotten history was best after all.

He leaned his head against the cold, dank stones behind him. A fat rat came crawling out of the straw and sniffed in his direction.

"Not dead yet, I'm afraid," he told it, "you'll have to find someone else to gnaw on at the moment."

The rat merely twitched its nose and ignored him.

The Doctor sighed deeply and closed his eyes.

He'd just have to sift through his memories to see their faces if he couldn't go see them. And he'd save the last one he'd ever remember... for her.

He was just starting to picture his beloved Susan's warm, hazel eyes, when he was hit on the chest.

Thinking the rat had decided he'd kicked it, and not particularly in the mood to be chewed, he opened his eyes and found a red felt fez hat which had rolled right next to his foot.

His head snapped up to see where it had come from, or who had thrown it, but he was still very much alone. Even the rat had gone.

A slight shimmer caught the corner of his eye. About three metres to his right was a time fissure.

Normally, he would be very upset to see something like a time fissure, since tears in the fabric of time and space were, technically, not so wonderful in all practicality. Very bad actually. _Non bene,_ as it were.

But he couldn't help the stab of hope it gave him.

Someone might be on the other side, and if something could get through, maybe he'd still have a head in a days time after all.

He toed off a trainer, grabbed the hat with his toes, then threw it with his manly-hairy foot- wait no, he wasn't a hobbit, though it was a feat worthy of praise when one was bound at the ankles - back through the fissure.

Just a little indicator that there was someone here on this side.

Could be really, really bad, whatever was over there - or not. He didn't have a lot to lose anymore.

He grinned to himself.

Definitely not done living yet.

Didn't matter. Let anything come through. As long as they were thick enough to unbind him, he'd find a way to run.

It's what he was best at.

* * *

.

* * *

"Doctor, Doctor," Kate nodded at each of him as they entered the laboratory where several other Unit scientists were frantically pouring over seismic scans, comparing notes, "I cannot tell you how thankful I am that you showed up when you did. If you hadn't been looking for your companion, we'd never have found this. Our sweeps show we've been infiltrated."

"Really? By wha'? Any idea?" said the Doctor in leather, joining Kate at the monitors and studying the readouts.

The Doctor in tweed groaned again inwardly - he was doing that an awful lot lately. "Look, it's not like they're planning on _taking over the Earth_!"

"We can't be sure, Doctor-"

"Yes, we can," he insisted, the boys were no threat to anyone! He wished he'd kept his mouth shut and resisted the temptation to follow himself into UNIT at all. He should have withdrawn and gone in covertly. Bloody idiot. "I said so, and I'm sure. They're not trying to take over the Earth. Just let them go and we'll get on with it."

"Doctor, I don't think you quite understand the enormity of-"

"Oh, come on! It's just two little-"

"_Two?_ Doctor, the whole of the sub-basement, Under Gallery and Black Archive is surrounded from every direction by thousands of whatever these things are!"

"Oh. Right. Continue."

Ears held up a hand and frowned. "Wha' were you about to say?"

He shrugged. "Sentient mildew in the broom cupboard."

"'Course, yeah. Wondered when the mildew here would develop consciousness." Daft Ears smirked slightly but let it drop. He'd push later when whomever his future self was hiding was safely away from whatever danger UNIT posed.

"Sentient _mildew?_" Kate asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Won't harm a thing! Best leave it." He tapped his nose once. "Trees will never evolve to have faces and legs without it. And trust me, none of us would be standing here if it weren't for highly evolved Trees. Shove over Leather and Ears and let the grown ups have a look."

"Oi!"

"What do you think Doctor? I can't get physiological readouts unless they're inside the Tower itself, but from the ultrasonic scans they appear to be…"

"Mole-like, yes. Curious." He looked at the younger Doctor who frowned and shook his head.

"Their formation is strategic," the younger Doctor stated firmly like a man used to analysing tactical strikes. "Too evenly spaced to be coincidental or a benign settlement."

"Absolutely," agreed the older. He looked up from the monitor to Kate and the other scientists that had gathered around to listen to the Doctors. "How deep can you scan?"

"About sixty kilometres. The tunnels appear to go beyond even that," Kate answered with a tense frown and deep ruts between her brows.

"Don't you do these things periodically? The scans, I mean. Why haven't you caught it before?" He didn't mean to sound accusatory, but well, yes, he did. This had been going on for some time. One didn't simply wake up one morning and decide to burrow under the White Tower, he didn't care what species was doing the deciding. Precautions would need to be taken against flooding - unless the species was aquatic, of course, but that was unlikely, they'd have to be at least amphibious to be breaking into the vault area - and cave-ins. It was a complex process no matter how you looked at it. Which was helpful and baffling at the same time.

"Yes, we do, but we only scanned this deeply now because we caught alien movement near the Black Archive. It disappeared into a wall within seconds of our discovery."

"Which means they might know a bit about when you lot run your security checks. This one was unscheduled so it couldn'ta known an' it scurried away as soon as it knew you were lookin'. Like a mouse in the kitchen at night, don't ya think? Sounds like you've been infiltrated to me."

The Doctors exchanged concerned looks then turned to Kate.

"What do you keep in the Black Archive-" the Doctor-in-tweed began.

"Tha' would be so temptin' for wha'ever these things are?" the Doctor-in-leather finished.

"We keep the classified objects and technologies in the vault for safe keeping." She said as mildly as possible. Kate was a smart woman. She knew letting the Doctors anywhere near the Black Archive was not only stupid, but would never be allowed.

Only, what else were they going to do if it came to it?

"An' all the bits you lot study so tha' you can use it. Do things like make the Tower a no fly zone, even for my TARDIS." He shook his head with an almost-smile on his lips.

"Doctor, you can't expect-"

"Kate Stewart, I'm the Doctor. Of course I can," he said bluntly and straightened his tie.

"You should know better than to keep a dungeon full of stuff you have no chance of understandin'."

"And this is exactly why."

"You never know who else wants it, or really has a claim to it. Did you ever think of tha'?"

"Maybe whatever it is you have, doesn't belong to you. Maybe it belongs to them."

"Doctor, we have every right to study the things that fall to our planet. It's _our_ planet," the scientists emphasised. She knew her situation was going from bad to worse every moment.

"8.7 million known species of life on Earth an' you're _actually_ arguin' tha' humans have exclusive rights to _anythin'?" _Leather and Ears growled.

"Kate, don't get cross!" Bow-tie followed diplomatically. "Do you think I don't want the human race to thrive? To advance and be magnificent?"

"Pfft. 'S why I'm always here to save your sorry arses in the end, innit? But you're thick if you think you should do it by cheatin' or tha' you could ever hide anythin' from me for long."

"Well, I don't have to tell you that, do I?"

"But we need to find out wha' they're after."

"And see about getting them to leave peacefully."

"Or stay an' sign a treaty. Treaties are good."

"Love a treaty."

"To the dungeons then, Doctor?"

"After you, Doctor."

"Wait!" Kate urged. "I'm sorry, Doctor, but I don't have access. We have to get clearance first."

Both Doctors were half to the door and regarded her impatiently.

The older Time Lord smirked and held up his sonic, but Kate looked almost sheepish and shook her head. "The Black Archives are designed to be impregnable by even you, Doctor. We're very thorough. We'll need the Colonel and her key." She got on her phone and immediately set to work gaining access and apprising her superior of the predicament with the Doctor.

"Don't worry, Kate Lethbridge-Stewart. We won't go in unless we have to." He didn't need them anxious and breathing down his neck. He hoped Torin and Lios had been able to sneak out successfully and were safely in the TARDIS. The last thing he needed was their involvement at the moment.

* * *

.

* * *

The Tylers, as it were, had not yet successfully managed an escape.

Far from it, actually. They were in just a bit of a bind. Bind meaning they were stuck. In a broom cupboard. A small one. That had been already full when they had first been shoved inside. With no way out yet.

After the Doctor had left with himself and the UNIT soldier, the girl at the desk decided she wanted to chat up the janitor bloke - right outside the door that kept them hidden and - er - squished. It was almost funny for all of thirty-seven seconds, then Lios started having a foot cramp which made him wobble a bit - which, of course, meant that he was wobbling against Torin - which, in turn, meant that Torin was retaliating - and, as one could expect of any brothers, everything devolved from there. Elbows were making contact with ribs and kidneys. Fingers were poking faces. Knees were knocking their neighbours, and the brothers were each two milliseconds from purposely causing the other to regenerate when the door handle jiggled and they froze mid eye-gouge.

They must have been making a load of noise like a couple of prats… well, they were idiots, and they both knew it.

They shot each other apologetic glances then turned back to the handle which had ceased its rattling, but the sound of a hard object like a credit card or butter knife was being slid through the door frame. It unlocked and opened with a soft click, then a thin shaft of light fell on Torin's face.

In the crack was a deep-brown eye framed in glasses with heavy black rims.

Torin grinned in a way he hoped was disarming.

The door opened wide enough to reveal the rest of the oval-shaped face and straight, brown hair that had been pulled back into a high ponytail. The woman stared at Torin for a moment, seemingly in shock, then her eyes darted back and forth between the brothers.

Footsteps sounded behind the young woman and all three sets of eyes widened, Li's with alarm since he couldn't see much from his position, Torin's with silent entreaty, and the girl's with indecision.

Suddenly, she shut the door and the boys could hear muffled voices and more footsteps before the door slowly opened again.

They both squeezed their eyes shut in anticipation of being caught and served with chips. Then they heard a small puff and a slight cough.

Torin opened his eyes first and saw the girl again, looking at them expectantly and pocketing an inhaler.

"Hello," he squeaked and wiggled his fingers at her.

"Hello," she returned with her own little wave. "I knew there was no sentient mildew. Could you imagine if there was? What would it be like to communicate with bacteria, I wonder. I mean, we'd be giants, wouldn't we? Or maybe more like whole worlds because they're microbes, aren't they. Who are you?"

"Did you say, sentient mildew?" Lios stuttered.

"I'm Torin. That's Li," he jerked his head in his brother's direction, knocking into Li's solid shoulder and wincing. "What's your name then?"

"Osgood. I'm an intern."

"Well, Osgood the Intern - er… it's a bit tight in here. D'you think - er…" He motioned to Lios and himself then the outside.

"Oh, yeah!" She looked over both shoulders before stepping aside and scratching her head.

They nearly fell out and breathed huge sighs of relief.

"Well, pleasure! See you around then, Osgood the Intern!" Lios said before hurriedly pushing Torin toward the exit. He'd seen the look in his brother's eye. It was the look he always had before a major bout of babbling.

"Hey, wait!" she called after them and caught up. "What were you doing in there? I mean, I know what you were doing in there, 'cos you don't just jump in a broom cupboard for no reason, you go in one to hide or get brooms, but why? Why is the Doctor hiding you?"

Torin spun in the girl's direction with a goofy grin and Lios nearly crashed into him. "You're clever."

"Well, er, yes, I guess I am."

"Look," Lios interrupted again quickly. The situation was getting out of his control fast. "I wish we had a moment to stay and chat, Osgood the Intern, but we don't, _do_ we Torin?"

"Erm, no, not really, no."

"Right. Okay," she said in a small voice with big, Torin-imploring eyes. "Only, I could get in a load of trouble… There're cameras everywhere, and I was just hoping - but never mind it isn't like you went in very far or tried to steal anything… right?"

"Absolutely not!" he cried in response to those beseeching orbs. "Well, a fez. But the Doctor's got that, hasn't he? Not us. We're here with him. Or he's with us. We're - blimey, Li, we've never really established exactly what our relationship is to the Doctor, have we?"

Lios groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. This was precisely what he'd wanted to avoid. This girl was just the type that Torin liked. Chatty, clever, quirky humans that he could prattle away to and they just did not have the time for this!

"Anyway," Torin rambled, "guess it doesn't matter. Don't want to cause you any trouble, though. Can you just say we got a bit lost?"

"Were you two snogging?"

Lios choked on nothing and Torin laughed loudly enough to wake the dead.

"God, no! He's my brother!"

"Oh, right. There was just a lot of - er - commotion and I thought-"

"Nooooo. No-pe. Well, there was commotion, but that was because he was trying to kill me. Tight space. Didn't work."

"Obviously," she grinned.

"Right, back to the TARDIS." Li began pushing his brother again when they heard more footsteps and many at that.

"Quick, in here!" Osgood whispered and pushed them both into an empty laboratory.

The three of them pressed their ears to the door after Torin locked it with his sonic screwdriver.

They drew away and waited for what sounded like a platoon of soldiers to make their way through the corridor, but they stopped right outside as someone was barking orders.

With a heavy sigh, Lios tugged at his gravity-defying platinum locks and turned around to rest his back against the door. At least he had the room to move about now. How much longer he'd be afforded the luxury was another matter.

Torin and Osgood moved further into the room, the girls eyes trailing after him as he started exploring the room curiously.

"So, what's it like travelling with the Doctor? Must be exciting!"

"Can be, yeah," he answered with cool indifference, like he was the smoothest operator in the galaxy. Lios smacked himself on the forehead and groaned. "There's a lot to see out there. Getting stuck in cupboards seems to be a thing though. Weren't we stuck in one for a bit on Olympia, Li? Or was that more of a wardrobe? We were, only it smelled like dust and fur and must and not so much like chemicals and mildew. I reckon I'll have a lot of 'em to compare at some point."

"That's a funny thing to collect. The smells in cupboards. Could do a whole-"

"I swear to you both, if I hear one more thing about wardrobes and cupboards and _mildew,_ I'm going out there. I'd rather be caught than-"

"Oi! You're tetchy lately!"

"Yeah, well, not exactly having the best few days, am I?"

Torin let out a huff worthy of his sister and turned his back on Lios. Instead, he focused on the young woman in the scarf and glasses and gave her a winning smile. "Do you have siblings, Osgood the-"

"Just call me Osgood. And, yes. A sister."

"Does she drive you as batty as that git makes me?"

"Sometimes, sure, but that's brothers and sisters, isn't it? No one knows you like your sibling, so no one knows the buttons to push like they do," she looked sideways at the blonde brother who looked for all the world like the universe was conspiring against him. "Still, wouldn't want anyone else with you in a pinch, would you?"

"No, I reckon not. Why UNIT, Osgood? What's for you here?"

"Oh, this place is exciting! We get to see things that actually came from other planets, and I can learn about things and places that no human has ever dreamed possible before!" She gave a wheezy cough and went rifling through her pocket for her inhaler. "Like the Doctor! I mean, he's an alien! An actual alien! And I got to meet him today! Well, for you, that's old news, isn't it? But it's a first for me! Have you met many? Aliens, I mean."

"A few, yeah." Torin moved a bit closer to her and leaned against the counter.

"What's amazing is, you'd never know with someone like the Doctor, cause he looks so human-"

"No, humans look Time Lord. Time Lords came first," Lios interjected but not unkindly, calmed a bit and reeled in by the girl's easy genuineness. He thought she might find it interesting.

"Really? See? So much we don't know - that most people will never know! But, really, I've been learning all the different known species and which ones UNIT has contact with. There are so many! And most of them don't look like the Doctor - I mean, at least from what I've been learning. I'd love to be one of the liaisons one day."

"And so you will, I'm sure!" Torin beamed at her and took her hand in his.

She beamed back and blushed slightly. "D'you really think? Blimey, it'd be a dream."

"Yes, perhaps we know someone who might be able to put in a good word. You did help us after all. Say, do you think you could, oh, slip out and see what's going on, then pop back in and tell us? I mean, just because we're in a bit of a bind being stuck in here and I'm sure the Doctor really wants us to come back to the TARDIS as soon as possible."

"Oh! Right, yeah! 'Course! Lemme just…" She slipped past him and indicated the door.

"Right! Nearly forgot! 'Course. When you come back, knock and say 'cupboard' and I'll unlock it again, yeah?" He smiled encouragingly and nodded, then took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"Yeah!" She giggled slightly then nodded in return still smiling brightly. "Back in a tick!"

He unlocked the door and she slipped out with more shyness in her smile, then he closed it quickly and sealed it again before heaving a sigh.

He noticed Lios staring at him with a frown.

"You just manipulated that poor girl."

Torin shrugged. "Didn't do it to be cruel."

"But it was."

"Look, I genuinely like her. If there were not a regiment of Alien Busters between us and the TARDIS, I'd invite her for a cuppa, but what else was I supposed to do? Knock her out and take her clothes so I could pretend I was her to get away? Even if that'd work there's two of us, remember?"

"Yeah, but why weren't you just honest? She said she was studying to be an extraterrestrial liaison!"

"What are the acceptable risks, Li? I made a choice."

"It's not like you!"

"What? Manipulation or making choices?"

Lios was silent.

"I'm not proud. We never had to do this stuff before but it's about time we stop acting like it's okay to hide behind the Alpha or Mum. Or the Doctor for that matter, innit?"

"Time to grow up, you mean?"

"A bit."

"I don't like it."

"Neither do I, but what's the alternative? Selene blows through all twelve regenerations because we couldn't be bothered to get our hands dirty? Mum burns herself into nothing again? Nothing about this to like."

Lios sighed again as Torin clenched and unclenched his jaw and shoved his hands in his pockets.

"Be nice to the girl, though."

Torin relaxed and smiled, then nodded once.

A small knock sounded at the door along with a muffled whisper of 'cupboard.'

Torin opened the door and saw she had her back to him. She backed in discretely to avoid notice and he shut the door behind her.

She puffed on her inhaler with a worried look in her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice, "the whole of the Tower is on lock-down. No one in or out. They're calling it a bomb threat but…"

The grin slid of each of man's face.

"I think it's more of an attack."


	24. The Black Archive

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor any of the characters to whom I've been a bad author and ignored for months.**

**Seriously, Eleven was so skinny and neglected, I thought someone would call the Society for the Protection from Cruelty to Fictional Characters on me. So I fed him a few jammy dodgers and some tea. He's like a new Time Lord.**

**In all seriousness though, my apologies for taking so long to post an update. I have little excuse except self doubt and the resulting avoidance. I lost the determination to tell this story because I didn't think I could.**

**Thankfully, I got a huge boost in faith in my abilities in the form of the incredible amounts of support for my SVM story on WordPress (where this is also published along with fun Doctor Who pictures and artwork to accompany it) and it re-lit some of my internal fires. **

**If you are a new reader, welcome! Thank you for giving my story a shot! It means a lot to me. **

**If you've been following and have waited out the months of my dry-spell, are you aware of how awesome you are? That's amazing, thank you! I'm so honoured to have your unwavering support! **

**Also, I did HEAVY edits to earlier chapters so I could like the story again. There were a few things that bugged the hell out of me and I couldn't move forward without first going back. Does it change the story's direction or central plot? Nope. Not at all, so if you're not interested in re-reading, don't worry, but I am soooo much happier with it all that I recommend it for the sake of just reading a better version of this story.**

**Again, thank you for all your patience and support. It really is invaluable.**

**Now, onward and upward.**

* * *

**.**

* * *

The two Doctors waded through the men in uniform and UNIT berets filling the corridors on the way down to the archives where the secret organisation kept all their most dangerous and classified objects. The military had never been his favourite, and the response to the situation seemed overblown without having all the facts. Neither of him liked it. It reeked of bloodshed and disaster waiting to happen.

Kate was no fonder of the situation she faced than the Doctors were of theirs. Angry superiors, angry Doctors, threatening aliens. All in all, not her best day as a scientist. Her father had been absentee most of her life, chasing extra terrestrials and the very man she walked behind, and her own career within UNIT had been spent not only deep in research and development, but fighting against any favouritism or bias having the Brigadier General for a father unwillingly bestowed. At the present, she was well-respected and working hard to change the attitude and stance UNIT assumed whenever and wherever possible and let 'science leads' become the new motto for the organisation. She was not about to lose ground on any front when it had been so hard-won. She was determined to keep things friendly with the Doctor, but she could not let him assume complete control and compromise Chaudhry's trust. She still had no idea how to manage it.

Assuming complete control was exactly what the Doctors intended, as it would happen, the younger positively itching to have a go at any who challenged his right, and the older dead set on avoiding any extreme measures they might resort to prematurely.

"Where was the breach found," the Doctor in tweed asked the anxiety riddled Kate. "How are they getting in without detection?"

"We aren't sure yet. We know its general location from where the creature disappeared on the scan, but no one has found the actual entrance point," she answered with a frown and knitted blonde brows. She stopped them in front of a solid stone wall and motioned toward it.

"Perception filter, d'you think?" the Doctor in leather asked his counterpart. He rubbed a rough hand along the wall looking for a hollow point.

"I assume they've thought of that," he answered in an offhand tone as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver. Then he stopped short and turned to Kate with a sceptical expression. "You have, haven't you? You can't be that stupid."

Kate met his jibe with a scornful click of her tongue. "Yes, we are not that stupid. Really, Doctor. I'm surprised at you."

Both shrugged simultaneously and went back to running their own battery of tests, mostly involving pointing their sonics and frowning.

Their eyes met, and the Doctor that was nodded curtly at the Doctor that would be.

"Kate, have you replaced the stones in this area to expand or renovate, or is it considered original?"

"Some of these stones weigh upwards of a tonne each, Doctor," Kate answered in bemusement, "How would you suggest we managed without moving the entire structure first?"

"Well, they are not in fact, the original stones that were laid in 1078, my dear Miss Stewart. These stones may look like they belong but their composition is that of limestone," he announced to the room at large.

Every pair of eyes was riveted to him as he spoke. That the two men had derived any clue about the mysterious entrance point was as baffling as the situation itself.

"Limestone was used in the original build, Doctor," Kate said, still confused by what he could possibly mean.

"Ah," chimed in the younger, "but not exclusively, was it? No, these're new. An' not pure either, I'm gettin' traces of electrolytes, mucus, glycoproteins, an' enzymes. Water'd jus' evaporate, wouldn't it."

"Exactly." The older grinned and looked around expectantly. Only Kate seemed to cotton on and look as shocked and impressed as he'd expected. "Oh, come on, he just told you everything you needed to know!"

"Humans," Ears chuckled, "don't bother knowin' anythin' about the world around you, do you? No, you jus' work here with your guns an' your salutin' an' then go home to telly for your celebrity gossip-"

"Saliva." He'd forgotten how often he used to get on the Stupid-apes Soapbox. "These blocks were formed to cover the holes in the original foundation by a combination of masticated lime dust and gluey saliva! Terribly clever actually! I wonder if they found a nearby subterranean quarry or they produce it themselves. Clever creatures whatever they are, don't you agree?"

Both Time Lords resumed their searching with the sonic screwdrivers, blue and green lights and whirring sounds filling the room amidst the sounds of shifting bodies and whispering.

"Do you mean they eat rocks?" asked a nearby female soldier with flaming red hair.

"Not sure if they eat 'em exactly, or if 's just an excretion from the burrowin'. Still, pretty genius way of covering' their tracks if I do say so. Make a hole, seal it when they're done… ah!" He stopped at a point near a secluded corner before pushing a hand into an apparently solid stone. A portion fell away in a muddy puddle. "See? Fantastic!"

Disgusted faces littered the corridor contradicting his excited assertion.

"Doctor, kindly step away and leave it to us from here," came an authoritative order from the entryway.

A pin drop could've been heard in the ensuing silence as each soldier stood at stiff attention and the Head of the British Division of UNIT strode purposefully into the room.

The Time Lords drew themselves up to their full respective heights and got identical stubborn sets to their jaws.

"Emily Chaudhry, I was wondering when you'd show."

"It's Colonel Chaudhry, Doctor, as you well know, and a salute is in order. You still work for me."

"Ah, technically true," he conceded, narrowing his eyes at the proud woman before him who had travelled in the TARDIS and later eaten a Christmas dinner together with him and other important friends, "but as you know, I don't do salutes. No saluting is sort of a rule I have, you see. I'm against it on principle. Saluting is…"

The corners of the Colonel's mouth twitched.

"Permission to hug instead?" he asked spreading his arms wide with a hopeful tilt of the head.

The younger Doctor's eyes went from angry to ready to bug out of his head. Just who the hell would he become that he would ask that while she was in front of subordinates? And hugging in general? He didn't do that! Well... he hugged Rose, but Rose was Rose, all pink and yellow and huggable. He didn't just hug anyone else, even if they were former companions, it was so... domestic. He ignored the implication that this also made hugging Rose domestic. It just wasn't the same.

"Permission denied," Emily replied with a small, indulgent smile.

"Ah, well, thought it was worth a go at least," he chuckled and raked a hand through his locks, dropping the other limply to his side.

"It's been a long time, Doctor, Doctor." She stretched out a hand to them both in turn which they each took happily. Emily Chaudhry had always been a good friend despite the earlier standoff.

"It has, but it appears the years have been kind to you Chaudhry. They must not work you too hard."

His former companion shook her blonde head at his antics, still not allowing her stern facade to drop away completely in front of her junior officers. "You're very kind, Doctor, but I'm sure you know the Head of UNIT's job is never done."

"Head of UNIT now? I am impressed. When'd tha' happen?"

"A year ago, actually. Now, both of your faces are new to me so I'm assuming I can't say the same about the years and their kindness."

"Ah, well, y'know how it is. Same old life," the younger man grinned. "But tha' brings us back to why we're down here, doesn't it."

"It does," she nodded once then turned to her subordinates. "Set up a perimeter. Nothing in or out. Kate," the senior scientist was at the Colonel's side in an instant, "You're with us, so get someone on the analysis of the hole and I want another sweep. Anywhere and everywhere you find more of this substance, I want to be informed immediately. These things so much as dribbled on another stone, I know it's location down to the milimetre and position relative to the vault."

Kate nodded and was on her mobile immediately.

"Doctor, Doctor, would you care to join me in the Archive?"

* * *

.

* * *

Osgood's mobile buzzed in her pocket, but she was too engrossed in the story Torin was telling to notice it. The sound, however, was perfectly audible to her companions' superior hearing. Torin chose to ignore it in favour of continuing to talk about being invited to see the seven seas of Rhye by the alien musician they as siblings had wanted to meet more than almost any other in Earth's history - Mozart and Ungår Stanik being first.

"So he was an alien?" Osgood repeated before puffing on her inhaler and giving a small cough. "Did anyone know?"

"Well, Rhye was his home planet and he wasn't exactly keeping it a secret, was he? But humans never see what's right under their noses, do they?"

Her phone began buzzing insistently again, but she just gave a small laugh and an incredulous shake of her head. "That is so cool! And did you go? Did you visit his planet? Blimey, that'd be amazing to actually step foot on another planet!" She pushed her heavy-framed glasses farther up onto the bridge of her nose. "And you talk about humans like you aren't one yourself. Funny way to talk, that. S'pose you've been travelling a while and just get used to it."

"I suppose we have," interjected Lios before Torin could stick his foot in it, "and your mobile has been ringing for the last few minutes."

"Oh! Thank you! That could've been bad!" She scrambled to pull the device from her lab coat and checked the call log and text messages. "Miss Stewart needs me down in the basement right away."

She looked up at the brothers. Lios nodded and Torin gave her a blazing grin. "I guess you should just stay here for a bit…"

She made to leave and Torin caught her arm. "Do you think the Doctor will be down there?"

"I don't know. I'd guess he'll be wherever Miss Stewart is…" she looked around uncomfortably. "I shouldn't…"

"But we won't be in the way! And we just want to find the Doctor without being arrested by the goons with guns, yeah?"

"Torin…" Lios warned. "How's that going to look for her, being trailed by unidentified civilians?"

"Sure. Alright. I understand…" Torin smiled, still wheedling with his eyes. "Wouldn't want to compromise you, Osgood. You're a fantastic girl and you're brilliant. Bright future ahead and all."

Lios kept his face impassive as his brother cajoled. Torin had stepped into leadership, and he would follow, whether he agreed with the methods or not. They were playing the game now, and Torin was proving to be better at it than he'd ever given him credit for.

"I just don't see how I can work it," she said, snatching up her bag and stuffing it with some sampling instruments and supplies from a few of the surrounding shelves, "or I would. Don't want to leave you stranded."

And there it was.

"What if we put on lab coats and posed as interns with you?" Torin asked with hopeful eyes and a smile that could be described as blinding. "We are brilliant actually. Wouldn't be a stretch, and we really could help!"

"Of course you're brilliant," Osgood smiled and tilted her head in a way that suggested she was a little impatient, "you're Time Lords, but what if they find that out? What would we do then?"

Torin's grin slid off his face like mud and he gaped while Lios snapped his attention in her direction with wide eyes and an impressed smile of his own.

"When did you know?" he asked with new-found respect.

"Sentient mildew?" She smirked. "I had my suspicions when I opened the door."

Torin moved his jaw up and down like a fish out of water.

She puffed her inhaler and continued packing her bag. "'Humans look Time Lord,' 'humans don't see what's under their noses,' the Doctor trying to hide you at all costs in a cupboard, not being able to just call yourselves companions, flirting with someone like me; you blokes are nice, but you're not that good."

Lios gave a small nod of admiration with blue eyes crinkled at the corners. "You are though, and for what it's worth, this prat would've flirted with you even if he didn't want something."

She tossed her head in dismissal, brown ponytail bouncing, and kept at her task.

"Osgood, we can't just stay in here."

"If the Doctor wanted you to hide, would he want you to go racing in after him, do you think?"

"Probably not," he agreed while Torin still stood gobsmacked and floundering, "but he's kind of an idiot when it comes to these things. I do think we should go with you, so I'm asking. Straight out. Will you please help us?"

"Wouldn't've pushed you lot in here if I didn't want to, would I?"

"So you'll take us?"

She hesitated a moment, then nodded and went to a locker containing the necessary disguises which she threw at each of them before shoving her bag of scientific sampling supplies into Torin's arms. She went to the door and pulled it open a fraction before exiting with a single backward glance.

Lios walked over to his unusually silent brother and shot him an amused look.

Torin looked down at the bag he was holding, then at Lios. "I think I'm in love with that girl," he squeaked.

Lios gave a bark of a laugh, and clapped him on the shoulder. "And you don't stand a chance in hell, Brother." He walked to the door. "Not a chance in hell."

Torin grimaced.

"Let's go, you git."

* * *

.

* * *

"Access requested. Atkins, isn't it? Pleasure to meet you," Chaudhry said to the balding, older man at the entrance to the Archive, flashing her badge. Kate followed suit.

"Ma'am," the man nodded, "Miss Stewart. Going in then? First day, didn't expect to see anyone!" He looked at the two Doctors then at his superiors who nodded their assent.

The Colonel pulled out a key she wore around her neck and handed it to the man who immediately turned to use it in the old-fashioned looking vault-door.

"The Black Archive has the highest security rating on the planet. The entire staff has their memories wiped at the end of every shift. Automated memory filters in the ceiling," Kate reassured the Doctors in a low voice.

Atkins pulled the heavy door open and the group stepped inside.

"Atkins thinks it's his first day, but he's been here for years," Chaudhry confirmed. "We take every precaution, Doctor. This is the safest place anywhere on Earth."

"Pfft, right. Unless someone gets their hands on tha' key an' a shimmer," the Doctor in leather growled. "An' your bloody staff wouldn't even know 'cos they wouldn't remember at the end of the day. No, you lot have it all figured out, don't you."

"I assure you, I'm a hard woman to access, let alone take down."

"Oh, I'm sure you think you are," he snorted. "Look at this mess. D'you even know wha' half of it is?"

"Doctor," Kate mediated, "We take every precaution. In the event of any alien or terrorist incursion, the contents of this room are deemed so dangerous, all of it will self-destruct in five minutes. We have a nuclear warhead twenty feet below us. All it takes is one command from either the Colonel or myself. We aren't stupid."

Both Doctors winced, but only the elder spoke. "A nuclear warhead under a room filled with things that could potentially destroy the planet surrounded by subterranean creatures that have escaped your notice for at least ten to twelve months. Please, explain to me again how that is not stupidity? I need a good laugh."

"Whether you like it or not, Doctor," Emily Chaudhry replied coolly, "these things have found their way onto Earth soil. What would you have us do with them? Try and dispose of them when we don't know what that might do? Hand them over to alien allies and hope for the best?" She shot them each a pointed look. "This is the best solution we have found, and we do everything in our power to be responsible and circumspect."

"An' if you get ahead of yourselves a bit in the technological area, it's just another perk, eh? Don't try an' tiptoe around it, Emily. I know how UNIT works, excellent memory, me."

"I won't pretend we haven't made good use of the opportunity to learn from the artefacts we've acquired, but I refuse to allow you to demonise the whole operation. The fact remains that we are in possession and do everything humanly possible to keep it all out of the wrong hands."

"Humanly possible…" he scoffed. "Tha's wha' worries me."

Both women looked affronted again and made to argue.

The Doctor stopped listening. His younger self had the whole argument well in hand so he wandered a little ways away to a wall of bulletin boards full of pictures and notes. Many were of him in various incarnations, but a great many more were of former companions.

Ace smiled up at him in her decorated bomber jacket as she posed next to Winifred Bambera. Peri Brown in her tight, pink lycra top and shorts, posed blithely next to Turlough. Tegan and Nyssa stood together with a pair of soldiers behind them. Donna, Wilf, Romana in both incarnations, Adric, Charley, Martha, Mickey, the Brigadier General, Grace Holloway, Melanie, Amy, Rory, Fitz, Jack… Rose… a good amount of photos of his beloved Rose were grouped around heavy notation and River seemed to have an entire board dedicated to her alone with cheeky pictures of her mugging for the photographer as well as candid photos of her from their adventures. UNIT had been keeping tabs on him and his companions for a long time. It did little to improve the way he was currently feeling toward them.

It was in that moment while he was steadily internally becoming a hurricane of rage and resentment, that the air around him quivered and stretched, pricking uncomfortably at his time senses, and diverting the storm from unleashing unholy hell on the two UNIT directors.

A time fissure shimmered into existence not five metres from him.

In seconds the younger Doctor was at his side with a black look upon his features as he gazed upon the tear in the fabric of time.

"You want to explain wha' the hell you lot are really gettin' up to down here?" he yelled at the two women who had followed closely behind.

Kate was the first to vehemently respond with anxiety dripping from her tone. "That isn't ours, Doctor. I don't know what it is, but we had nothing to do with it."

"It's a time fissure," the elder Time Lord responded with more calm than he felt, "a hole in space and time, and I doubt you could have accomplished it even in a few thousand years."

"Is it the E.T.'s surrounding the tower?" Chaudhry asked with not a little alarm.

"I doubt it… No… no one in the universe could create such a thing except…"

He and his counterpart exchanged dark looks.

"Doctor, this is no time for playing coy!" Chaudhry exclaimed. "That thing appeared directly in the most secure place on the planet! What the hell is it, where did it come from, and who is responsible? Tell me or-"

"Or you'll what?" He whirled and bore down on her like an enraged god of fury and thunder. "Take me into custody? Keep me locked in a little cell without hope of release until you're satisfied with my answers? Please," he spat as he glared at her, inches from her stony face, "better beings than you have tried and still, here I stand, defying your pathetic demands and threats. You may think you are so very, _very_ clever with all your weapons and safeguards and stolen technology, but don't ever for an instant think you have any authority over me. I _am_ the authority, Chaudhry, and this? This has nothing to do with you. This is time bending to its master. It's here for me, not you." He turned his back on her and faced himself.

"Doctor," Kate began in a softer tone but still riddled with fear and worry.

He held up a hand to silence her, and focused only on the other Time Lord in the room. Humans need not apply here.

"Wha' d'you reckon?" his counterpart asked with his own brand of anxiety and concern. For all his older self's talk of authority and mastery, a tear in time was a serious problem, and one that not only did he have no answer to, but which also did not bode well for the continued existence of the universe should it begin to expand or implode. Something or someone was behind it, and he they very much needed to find out who and stop them. Rock-spitting aliens, hoarded artefacts, and even nukes were far less important.

"Only, one way to tell." He removed his fez and threw it with a flick of the wrist through the tear. When nothing happened except a faint, golden shimmer in the rip, the two Time Lords looked at each other and grinned. "Shall we?"

"Fantastic."

The younger stepped into the glimmering swirls of time as the two confused women began their objections.

"Doctor! What are you-"

"No! Don't! You don't know-"

Without listening further, the Doctor straightened his bow-tie and followed suit.

* * *

.

* * *

"I suppose…" Torin said as he sidled up to Osgood, trying, without much success, to regain a place in her good graces, "well, I just thought, you know, once we got down here, that there'd be more, you know, people. Soldiers. I thought they'd be crawling with 'em, you know? Thought you could throw a stone and hit one, at least. So… where is everyone?"

Osgood swept her gaze around the eerily empty stone corridor and drew in a nervous, rattling breath before she fished her inhaler out of her pocket and dosed her bronchioles once more. "I… I don't know. Should be, you're right. But it's like…"

"Like they've all just… gone on holiday, yeah." Torin agreed emphatically. "Not right is it?"

It was true. The basement had been so thick with UNIT patrol that they had to push their way through to the lift, but once they got down to the sub-basement, you could have heard a rat sneeze in the unnatural silence.

"What did your message say exactly?" Lios whispered, reluctant to call attention to themselves and hoping Torin would take the hint and lower his own voice.

She pulled out her phone and did a quick scan over the message. "Troughton, he's Miss Stewart's lab assistant, was taking a team down to the third corridor before you get to the Black Archives, and I was to meet them with some equipment." She indicated the bag Torin still carried before she continued in a hushed voice, "We were meant to sample every stone and tag its exact location before running a chem analysis on each one we took. Weird but straight-forward, don't you think?"

"So, there should most definitely be a load of people mucking about down here then." Torin concluded, still not troubling himself to be quiet. "Where have they all gone? Too late to be time for lunch, yeah?"

"And no one would just leave for lunch, that'd be silly," Osgood agreed. "Especially not the soldiers, they wouldn't leave their posts for anything."

"I don't like any of it," Lios muttered, pulling out his sonic and doing a few scans.

"Ohh, what's that?" Osgood asked as she looked over his shoulder at the incomprehensible readings he'd just taken with the whirring torch.

Torin cleared his throat loudly and pulled out his own, complete with claws, and extending them with a flick of his wrist. "Sonic screwdriver," he answered. "We use them to take readings in the area to give us a better idea of - er - stuff."

Lios rolled his eyes and continued his own scans.

"Like sonar?" Osgood asked him curiously as he preened and showed her his larger, cooler looking instrument.

"Exactly like that!" he nodded happily, putting it in her hands for a closer look. "Only, not really, because it also can tell me the chemical composition of the things it scans, tell the difference between organic and inorganic matter, find traces of biometric imprint, locate living organisms in masses of inanimate material, and boils eggs at thirty metres. Don't use one near a chicken coop."

Osgood giggled and examined it closely, pushing her glasses up once again. "I can't read what it says. It's just a series of numbers and circles."

"Well, it's Gallifreyan, 'course you can't."

"Is that your language then? Why'd you call it a screwdriver?"

"'Cos I can also use it to put up a load of shelves if I need to."

"Oi!" Lios interrupted, reaching behind Osgood as they slowly crept forward to swat at his strutting git-of-a-brother. "Got a bit of a situation here."

"Right," Torin said soberly, reclaiming his sonic and seriously scanning the area.

"There were people everywhere, and recently, so where the hell've they disappeared to?" Lios muttered as he frowned at his readings.

A scraping sound had begun shortly after they entered the stone hall and seemed to marginally increase the farther they travelled into its depths.

"Weird, these rocks," Torin mused, and smacked his instrument a few times against his palm, convinced the readings were false. "They're limestone, yeah? But both too pure and tainted all at once. There's no trace of sediment. No mixture. The minerals are textbook, but they also have organic proteins woven into their base structures. It's madness."

The scraping noise increased in audibility, going from a scuffing on rough ground to more of a scratching at the door.

"Li, is yours saying the same, or is mine in need of recalibration?"

"It's the same."

"Proteins? As in the rock has been mixed with something living?" Osgood asked, enthralled with the mystery within the mystery they had uncovered. She stopped walking to pull out some of her swabs, files, hooks, bags, and petri dishes to take samples.

The scratching sound became more of a shifting-of-heavy-things noise.

Osgood collected a few of her own scrapings into vials and added a few different chemical solutions to each, observing the colour changes and frowning. "It doesn't make any sense! It's like they're mortar rather than quarried."

"Exactly! Weird! And they shouldn't all be limestone, should they? I mean, the rocks came from all over Britain, so they should be a mix of marble and granite and loads of others! The only way this could happen is-"

"They've been replaced," Lios concluded. "But by what?"

"Ye-p," Torin breathed, his whole body suddenly tense and alert as he looked past the spot where both Osgood and his brother had stopped to get a closer look at the baffling rocks. "Though, I'd say the 'by what' is easy."

Lios took one look at him and was out of his crouching position in half of a second just as Torin was grabbing for Osgood.

Her glass vials crashed to the floor as they pulled her up roughly and into a dead run.

"What?!" she cried. "What is it? Why're we running? Where are we running?"

"Mole-man doesn't look very friendly!" Torin shouted back.

"Mole-man? What-" She glanced over her shoulder as she wheezed and put on a burst of speed.

Running toward the sound of their thudding footsteps was a seven-foot, furry, black creature with sightless, milky eyes, and razor-sharp incisors, each at least ten inches in length. Its fingers had hooked claws at the ends of long rat-like fingers and toes, and Torin was right- it did not look like it wanted to cuddle. Viscous drool dripped out of its mouth and down the vicious-looking front teeth. And it was gaining on them. They could hear its scrabbling claws leaving nasty gouges in the stones as it propelled itself forward toward the fleeing group.

Quickly, Torin yanked Osgood's arm hard and propelled her into a small, crumbling alcove in the corridor and covered her mouth with his hand. Lios Covered both their bodies with his own before each of the young men went as silent as statues. They seemed not to even need to breathe, even after all that exertion.

She couldn't say the same. She frantically tried to still her ragged breath but her traitorous lungs and bronchioles threatened to start contracting at any moment. She needed her inhaler. Desperately.

The creature was within a few metres, the gouging of stone under razor-sharp claws intensifying her panic and inability to draw breath.

Torin could feel her body shaking with the need for air, and its inability to cope with the sprint they had just forced her to endure, and he did the only logical thing. He moved his hand to cover her nose, captured her lips with his own, and blew. He silently forced air into her spasming lungs then sucked it back out, letting his bypass filter the oxygen as he repeated the process again and again. She jerked against him at first, but the restoration of the life-sustaining molecule to her brain quickly allowed her to relax, and she let him breathe for her.

The creature passed them, but confused that it had lost the sounds it had followed, it back-tracked, and made another three passes before turning back the way it had come and disappeared.

They stayed in the safety of silence for another four minutes before Torin released the dazed girl and gazed apologetically into her eyes.

She blushed involuntarily, and pushed him backward from her slightly.

"Sorry," he whispered, his own ears going a bit red as he smoothed the curls down over them. "You just…"

"I couldn't breath, yeah," she said with a small cough, bringing her inhaler to her lips and giving herself the much-needed medication. "How-How'd you do that?"

Torin, shrugged. "I'm not human."

"Well… thanks… How come it didn't know we were here?"

"Its eyes - er - they're clouded over, I don't think it can see, and its nose is shaped like a scoop. I think it relies on its hearing mostly."

"Oh, and we were talking pretty loudly, weren't we?"

"Yeah…"

Lios looked back and forth between the two and made an impatient sound. "Talk about this later if you have to," he breathed into the awkwardness. "We've got to move."

Torin took the girl's hand and pulled her with him as they continued to move deeper into the winding halls.

"Can't go that way," Osgood whispered after they had backtracked a bit and made a few wrong turns into dead-ends.

"Why not?" Torin asked, turning to look down at her.

"Black Archive is that way, through another set of doors and a vault. Can't get in. No one can, unless they've the key."

The brothers looked at each other and came to silent agreement before pulling her in just that direction.

"Wait, I said, we can't-" Osgood said, a little too loudly.

A keening wail echoed and bounced from the cold stones.

"Right, that's us running again!" Torin shouted.

They skidded to a halt just outside the door that separated the entrance to the Archive from the stone passageways. It was made of metal and wood rather than the traitorous rock.

Lios yanked at it and found it locked. He aimed his sonic at the handle, but nothing happened.

"Access!" Osgood shouted with a gasp followed by a bout of hacking coughs.

A few pregnant moments passed, filled with the echoing of claws on stone and screeches reverberating ever nearer, before the door opened and a balding man peeked his head out to blink at them owlishly.

Another high-pitched roar resounded behind them, and the brothers shoved themselves bodily against the half-open barrier, knocking the man back so that they could all scramble inside they room.

Just as Torin was closing it behind them, he caught sight of the mole-creature as it rounded the last corner and raced toward them at break-neck speed. He threw his body against the door and screeched for Lios to do the same as the creature bashed into it, nearly sending him flying forward.

He aimed his sonic at the lock, but whatever they had used to make it rendered it useless.

The dazed Atkins jumped to his feet, scrambled for the key, and charged forward to lock the heavy wooden door.

The monster gave up its battering, but an ominous screeching floated in their direction, followed by an even more disheartening scraping of claws on wood. It would dig them out now that it knew where they were, and it was calling for friends.

Osgood coughed and spluttered, but kept her wits about her. "We need to get into the Archive, now!" she told Atkins.

As frightened as the middle-aged man was, he set his jaw, and resolutely denied her access. "No one goes in without the key an' proper clearance. I'm sorry."

"That thing is going to get in here! What do you not understand about this situation!" Torin shouted angrily.

"Then it gets in and we're prob'ly dead, but no one's goin' in. More'n my job's worth, tha'."

Torin raked his hand through his hair and paced the small room, while Lios approached the man gingerly.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Atkins."

"Atkins, how long have you been working down here?"

"First day. Still not lettin' you in. That's the Black Archive, not a hidey-hole an' no one goes-"

"In or out without the key and clearance, I was listening, I promise. Do you have a family, Atkins?"

"No, an' I'm not gonna fall for any of tha' rubbish. It might be my first day, but I got this job for a reason."

It was Li's turn to let out an exasperated groan and begin pacing.

At least another three sets of claws joined the first. They'd be through in less than five minutes, and if the party in the antechamber didn't get on with it, they'd be mole-food in no time.

"Atkins, where's Miss Stewart?" Osgood cried. "Can't you just go get her and-"

"No need, Osgood. She's here with me. What the hell is happening out there?" Colonel Chaudhry asked in a stern voice from the entrance to the Archive.

* * *

**A/N: I'm a total bastard for the cliffie... but the next chapter we get all the Doctors together, so please, don't kill me yet!**


	25. Tango Through Time

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who nor any of the characters with whom I meddle in a literary manner.**

**Any recognisable dialog from DotD isn't mine. Some banter was too good not to use, and was probably the only part of the fiftieth I really loved... so it stayed and was modified to fit Eight and Nine, and/or was embellished upon. I really hate referring to them by numbers but there's only so much I can do when I'm playing with four of them. I avoided it when I could.**

**I also want to note that I love each of the Doctors, and when I have them insult each other, it isn't my personal feelings toward them. It is, however, an expression of my love. What can I say? I have three brothers. "I love you," comes out as, "you dumb ass," most of the time along with a dead-arm.  
**

**Next chapter is coming soon. I ended up posting this one as it is because I split it for length. 13,000 words in one chapter was a bit ridiculous.**

* * *

.

* * *

He went from a room lit with electric light and filled to bursting with alien devices and technology to a dank, depressing dungeon cell. Straw littered the mouldy, stone floor in fetid piles; the scent of living decay and decomposing plant matter assaulting his olfactory senses. Meagre light filtered in only from a small opening in the stones nearly a metre and a half above his head, and a heavy wooden door blocked all hope of escape from the deplorable room. He could hear the fat corpse rats scuttling under the mounds of hay that served as both furniture for the prisoners, and superhighway for the rodents which fed upon the scant rations of food and the convicted themselves.

And still this was not the worst part of what he found awaiting him inside the cell.

No, the worst part of coming to this place was _whom_ he found waiting, trussed up and glowering at the two interlopers who had unwittingly intruded upon his captivity. In all his wild-haired, pin-striped, patterned tie, and trainer-clad glory, sat himself. Another himself. The himself just before the current himself. The himself who had laid the path of manic madness in grief and loss which he'd traversed for the last couple of centuries.

To say the least, he was nonplussed.

"Oh, I should've guessed it'd be _you_ responsible for that," jeered the imprisoned Doctor to the man he'd once been, ignoring the man he'd become, and nodded his head toward the time fissure. "Only you would do something that dangerous and stupid."

He opened his mouth to loose his very witty and biting retort, but the Doctor in leather beat him to the punch with a growl.

"Oi!" he barked, "who the hell're you an' how do you know me?"

The captive Doctor bared all his teeth in an expression not quite a grin and not exactly a sneer. "I'm you, you great leathery twat."

The younger rolled his eyes and turned away to examine the room, ignoring the continuing diatribe as the man he would become steamed.

"And where the hell is Rose? She'd better not be coming anywhere near this place! Do you have any idea what that could do to the time lines, you damned, foolish wan-"

"That's quite enough of that, thanks. Had enough of that word of late," the oldest shouted over the pin-striped Doctor's insult and stopping the leather-wearing him from causing physical injury. "And we didn't cause that madness! You must've somehow! How and why exactly did you end up trussed up like a pig? I don't seem to remember this, but that's hardly surprising."

"You don't _remember_ this? Oh, wonderful! Three of us then! Bloody brilliant! What did I ever do to deserve this? Just my luck, our first body will show up and whack us all with that damned cane until we play nice!"

All of them shuddered.

"And it isn't like I tried to get arrested! I didn't do anything! Haven't even had the chance, I just showed up and it was enough."

"Really?" the Doctor in tweed smirked. "So, knowing Elizabeth wanted to arrest you on your last visit slipped your mind, did it?"

"Oh, well, just bring that up."

"An' we're the idiots! Take a good look at where you're sittin', pretty boy! Knew you were wanted with tha' stupid face an' still came back, fantastic," the youngest of them chuckled and leaned one shoulder against a stone wall with his arms folded across his chest in a broody snit.

"What was it for?" the eldest asked curiously as he mimicked Nine's disapproving posture on another wall. "Throw another nose, did you?"

"Do you think you're funny?" the middle Doctor barked. "Is that why you're wearing a bow-tie and braces? I'll let you in on a little secret, we made a better clown in our sixth body. He was funnier too."

"You are tetchy, aren't you! And that just isn't true. We weren't funny at all back then."

"That was my point, actually."

"Wasn't I supposed to be charming in this body? Rude, but charming is what I remember, but you aren't! Rude, yes, but hardly charming. When are you? Have you lost D-"

"Oh, shut up and untie my hands already," the other retorted sourly, turning his head away from both of the gleefully voyeuristic versions of himself.

The ninth looked away from himself and pretended to find the ceiling very amusing. He decided he quite liked having the Rose card up his sleeve as, apparently, both future versions of himself harboured a bit of jealousy. He was glad that she wasn't there to see his future faces, however, since Rose tended to like them pretty. He also didn't fancy explaining regeneration, though it looked like he'd never have the need if these two prats were without her. Another bonus. He didn't focus on the fact that it also meant he'd one day be very much without his pink and yellow bit of sunshine.

When neither of his counterparts moved to help immediately, the Doctor in trainers and a suit let loose a string of Gallifreyan curses and began to struggle anew with the bonds, wishing he could just free one appendage to get a good swing in. He succeeded only in falling onto his side in the odoriferous straw.

The bow-tied Doctor rolled his eyes after a few moments of watching with a smirk and fished in his jacket pocket for his sonic.

"Of all the people in all the universe to come through it had to be you, didn't it," he huffed from his prone position and spit out a bit of the straw that had found its way into his mouth. "Couldn't've been, I dunno, even a Dimean or a Narcolyxii, let alone someone I actually might like, no. Had to be bloody you."

"I'm not exactly thrilled to find you on this end either, you know. Stop wiggling," he commanded as he bent to free his younger- well, his other younger self from the bindings around his wrists. "You're like a hyperactive string bean. And if you think for a second that I can be bothered to help with your feet - you've lost one of your trainers, by the way, it's just there-"

"Oh, just go find a way out and leave me to it," he grumbled, "not like I want you anywhere near me anyway. Prat. Do I really turn into you? You look like a Time Tot. What the hell was I thinking when I regenerated?"

"You really don't want to know."

"No, I don't. Just… don't talk to me."

"Fine by me. Daft Ears-"

"Oi!"

"-has been better company, and that's saying something."

As the pinstriped Doctor got to his feet, the time fissure shimmered and undulated fluidly. It expanded in a bright golden flare of luminance, forcing them all to look away from it.

"Oh, not again…" the tenth muttered.

When the glare subsided, a man in a battered, green velveteen coat and war-torn clothing stood alone, looking curiously at each of the men in the cell.

"You!" the ninth spat viciously, before turning his back and clenching his fists.

"How can you be here? More to the point, why the hell are you here and when are you leaving?" the tenth growled.

"You caused that, didn't you?" the eleventh accused.

The newly arrived Doctor raised an eyebrow and regarded the other men, who hadn't turned away, but still looked upon him with disgust and anger. "Well," he began in a flat tone, "interesting but hardly informative. Excuse me chaps, I'm looking for the Doctor. I'd ask where I am, but it appears we're in a prison cell-"

"Full marks for the toff…" Leather and Ears growled.

"-and did anyone lose a fez?" He held the hat up which was quickly snatched by the youngest looking man who immediately donned it and scowled at the hand which had been touching it.

"Yes, well. Lovely to meet you as well, I'm sure, but I do rather have places to be, so... the Doctor?"

"You've certainly come to the right place," sighed the Doctor in tweed, pinching the bridge of his nose. This was getting ridiculous. At this rate, his first body really would be showing up to make them behave.

"Yes, are you companions of his? Is he coming to liberate you, or is he in another cell himself?"

_"Companions?"_

"Ah. Perhaps not companions. I do prefer some intelligence in my assistants. Have you heard of a man called the Doctor in any case? Perhaps you might point me in his direction and I'll be-"

The two oldest looked at each other and rolled their eyes. They both held up their sonic screwdrivers.

"No…" the soldier breathed incredulously.

"Pfft," huffed Ears, still not facing the man he was.

"Really?"

"Ye-p," smirked Pinstripes.

"Even _that_ one?" the youngest asked pointing rudely at his oldest incarnation, and eyeing the ridiculous red hat perched on the mousy flop of hair. This man was older than he? He glanced at the apparition who had accompanied him and raised an eyebrow. She gave a noncommittal jerk of the head and examined her incorporeal fingernails.

"Yes!" shouted Bow-tie, batting with his sonic at the finger which was dangerously close to poking his chin.

The Doctor in the suit and tie eyed his future device and smirked. "Larger sonic, eh? Compensating?"

"For what?" demanded the older man. He didn't need to compensate for anything! He was much wiser and much cooler than he'd ever been! Rassilon, these- was he really like this? Well, yes, he supposed he was.

The younger man's smirk widened into a pig-in-a-wallow grin. "Regeneration. It's a lottery."

"Oh, he's cool," he hissed back, pocketing his tool quickly and rolling his eyes. "Isn't he cool? 'I'm the Doctor and I'm all cool! Oops! I'm wearing sand shoes.'"

"They're not sand shoes!"

"Really. They really, really are."

"Oh, because your nutty professor clobber is so much better. Very convincing! Missing the coke-bottle specs though, mate."

"Am I having a mid-life crisis?" the youngest asked, what seemed to the older men, the room at large.

The Doctor in leather glared at him and moved to another wall as far as he could distance himself to lean and brood. His worst nightmare was standing a few feet from him, and it took every ounce of his will not to throttle him, or scream at him, or start tearing the Tower of London apart, stone by stone, history be damned.

"Oi!" cried the older two in unison. Their own pain and rage might not be as fresh as when they wore the leather coat and wool jumpers, but it was no easier to stand in the same room as the man they considered a traitor to the name of which they endeavoured to be worthy. His insults made it no easier to endure his presence, and even if they couldn't agree on much, they could all agree that they wanted to fix the fissure and be gone as quickly as possible.

"Not the display I was expecting, I must tell you, my dear," the hated Doctor continued obliviously.

The Doctor in the fez looked to the version of himself who was closest in years to the man calling thin air, "my dear," with a silent, bemused inquiry. He only shrugged and gave a noncommittal shake of the head in reply. He didn't remember losing it, but his memories of the last few months of the war were foggy at best, coming in only violent flashes of agony and destruction most of the time.

"If this is what you wanted to show me, we can just go back now." The war-ravaged man looked at the ragged, golden woman with an unimpressed expression. "They're in a prison, together may I point out, doing nothing exactly, and they're…"

"Who're you talkin' to, you nancy?" Leather growled. He refused to look directly at the man whose hands had spilled the blood of billions, but he couldn't stop himself from speaking.

"I never promised you anything but a look," she purred as she moved away from him to look closely at the youngest-looking of his regenerations. "It's not as if you've done anything but insult each other yet. Don't you have questions? Don't you want to _know?"_

"No, I don't. Not if this is what I have to look forward to," he told her, oblivious to the wide-eyed confusion surrounding him.

"Gone a bit around the bend, hasn't he?" Sandshoes shot to Bow-tie who nodded sagely but preferred to let the matter go.

"Not surprising, is it?" He tugged at the unruly locks flopping into his face and sighed. What had brought them all together? Why was _that_ one with them - muttering at nothing and, by his very presence, bringing up things he just didn't want to think about any longer? What was the point of any of it? "Four of us in one cell... This'll cause some nasty anomalies if we don't get out soon." He strode to the cell door and brandished his sonic screwdriver at it. He had to get away from them. He'd go mad stuck there much longer.

"What are you doing?" drawled Sandshoes as he sauntered over and leaned against the stone wall next to the door.

"Getting us out!" he snapped back. His tolerance for his younger selves had nearly evaporated into nothing. He was getting desperate.

"Won't work. The thing is all wood and there's a wooden plank locking it on the other side."

"Well, what do you want me to tell you? Shall we call in a carpenter? Have your mobile on you and a friend with a reference? Or shall we call the guards and request a better quality door? We'll kick it down! I don't know!"

"Right, because that won't have guards with swords and axes on us in seconds at all, will it?" The younger Doctor shook his head and sighed dramatically. "We really ought to invent a setting that does wood."

"Wonderful advice, thanks. Might I remind you, you're the one who got stuck in here in the first place? Why don't you and Ears go resonate some concrete?"

"It's stone not con-"

_"Doctor?"_ came a voice through the time fissure.

Every man practically jumped out of his skin.

_"Doctor, they said you'd gone through this… this thing. Can you hear me?"_ Torin's disembodied voice floated out to them.

"Oi!" cried the eldest Doctor, rushing to the breach, his face going from mocking to serious and wary in milliseconds. He couldn't see anything on the other side, but the worry in the young man's voice gave plenty away. "What are you doing? Why aren't you back in the TARDIS? What is going on?"

Nine and Ten turned their gazes on each other before turning to Eight.

"_Tha'll_ be a companion, you idiot. Mid-life crisis... Like you're any better'n them with your hair an' prettiness..." Leather pulled his arms in even tighter as he glared daggers at the ceiling. "Coulda lived the rest of my lives without layin' eyes on you..."

_"Yeah… bit of a glitch. There's a load of - er - hostile things between us and the TARDIS and… well, we came looking for you, but you disappeared!"_

"Where is-"

_"He's here! We're both here. Osgood's here and so is Kate Stewart and - er - what was her name again? Right, Colonel Chaudhry, only we're stuck in the Archive 'cos there's mole-men, and Chaudhry's saying mad things about warheads and blowing up London-"_

Ten approached the fissure and stood next to himself as the panicked young man spoke rapidly from the other side. His expression darkened with every word. Both younger incarnations soon followed, though Nine maintained a careful distance from the youngest, keeping all the others between them.

"Whoa, whoa, slow down. Reverse it. _What_ is going on?"

* * *

.

* * *

"Osgood, who are these men, why are they here, and what on Earth is that thing?" Kate interrogated as all four of the people trapped outside the Archive spilled inside in a haste driven by terror.

"Hello," Torin answered with a small wave and a manic grin. "I'm Torin, and this is Li, and that's, oh... er, what was your name?" he asked the guard.

"Atkins," he replied weakly.

"That's-"

"I know who Atkins is!" she shrieked. "I want to know what you're doing down here!"

"Well, we came with the Doctor! Is he here?"

"No he isn't," replied Chaudhry. "Atkins, man the entrance. Stewart, back to the breach. These boys are mine."

"Ma'am."

"Yes, ma'am. Osgood, come with me." The two scientists made their way to the shimmering fissure in time and Kate began handing instruments to the girl.

"You're trespassing on classified government grounds, are you aware of that?" Chaudhry began with steel in every utterance.

Both young men looked uncomfortable.

"You're companions? I was under the impression the Doctor was without any at the moment."

"Your intelligence isn't all that great then, is it?" Torin grinned again before letting it fall when she glared.

"We carefully catalog and interview all of the Doctor's companions. Rose Tyler is the current companion of one of the Doctors who was here, but you two-"

"It's new," Lios interjected. "Really new."

"You don't say. Did you see the thing outside?"

"Yes," Torin nodded. "I'm thinking not friendly, but not particularly high in intelligence or advanced-"

"That isn't congruent with the readings we've taken," she cut him off. "They're in military formation surrounding the Archive and have evaded detection for some time. That implies strategy and a clear goal."

"Right, but then why haven't they gotten in and gotten what they want?" Torin challenged. "And who are you?"

Lios elbowed him in the ribs, but the woman didn't seem to be fazed by Torin's demanding behaviour.

"Colonel Emily Chaudhry, Head of the British Division of Unit. And as to why? Why don't you tell me? How did you get here? Your very presence is suspect, and I'm warning you now, whatever you have planned, we are prepared to deal with it. This is the most thoroughly defended room in the world. Don't think for a second you stand a chance at theft or manufacturing a hostage situation. So, I repeat, how did you get here and what are your intentions?"

"Right. Well, we walked. With Osgood - not her fault! I mean, we told her we were new interns and we had falsified identification - er - from the Doctor-"

"Please, spare me. Outside is a corridor full of specially trained soldiers-"

"There isn't."

"What did you just say?"

"The corridor's empty. I'm sure you had it full of people, but they're gone. And you don't really think we're with the mole-men, do you? It was trying to kill us!"

"Empty."

"Ye-p."

"Mole men?"

"Ye-p"

"Can you prove that you're companions beyond a shadow of a doubt?"

Torin hesitantly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver. "Good enough?"

Chaudhry eyed it for a moment before holding out her hand. Torin reluctantly placed it in her palm and she inspected it closely, wheels turning behind shrewd blue eyes, before returning it, and nodding.

"You don't think they're very intelligent." She wasn't asking.

Torin shook his head. "Not only that, but they're limited in sensory acuity. They rely on their hearing - which is rather acute, hypersonic frequencies acute, but they can't see - maybe at all, and they couldn't smell us when we hid."

"That means..."

"They're pawns, yeah. Something else wants whatever they're after."

"And the UNIT officers-"

"They must've taken them. I told you, we just walked down. It heard us while we were investigating and that's why we were trying to get in. We just wanted to find the Doctor."

"The Doctor isn't here any longer."

"What?" both men cried.

"What are you talking about?" Torin demanded. "He was here! He wouldn't've just left us-"

"The Doctor did accompany Miss Stewart and myself into this vault, yes, but that," she indicated the rippling anomaly the two other women in the room were nervously studying, "materialised shortly after entry and he went through it - whatever it is. He hasn't returned and we don't know what's causing it or how dangerous it is."

Both young men shifted on the balls of their feet uncomfortably. How they hadn't picked up on the disturbance it made in time when, while they looked at it, it made their stomachs clench was a mystery, and one which Torin figured was due to the stress of nearly being ripped to shreds by dagger-like claws and stone gashing teeth

Just as pressing was the dilemma on how much they should say in general. They obviously were the best-suited beings in the room to address the strange, fluctuating time disturbance, but did they want this woman to know that? Should they tell this Colonel what they were when she had only just accepted they posed little threat? And did she really catalog companions like cattle or keep tabs on their teen-aged mother like she claimed? Could they actually let _that_ go without making a tell-tale fuss? It rankled like an unspoken threat. Did the Doctor know about it? How much trust exactly did the Doctor put into this government organisation when he'd obviously wanted to keep them a secret? And why had he just blithely walked through it and left them to deal with the mess here? He could be anywhere - literally anywhere - and any when. Did Chaudhry even know it was a time anomaly? What choice did they have in how much they spilled, and what was the fallout likely to be?

"He just... walked through it?" Lios asked softly, looking at his brother with a question on his brow.

Torin gave a minute nod of the head. They were on their own, and they had to do as much damage control as possible.

"Yes," she heaved a sigh. "He said it was 'time bending to its master.' I'd like to say I have faith in that, but with the incursion outside and the breach inside, I'm sure you understand how precarious my position has become."

Torin narrowed his eyes at the Head of UNIT. She was wheedling. Well, he supposed one didn't get to that spot without fairly damned good instincts and he'd shown her his sonic screwdriver. How little could- should he say? Talking about their mum was out, but they couldn't avoid the inevitable. The Colonel had to know they could handle more than just some punters off the street, but first he had to know how far she was willing to go on her own.

"You said the room was well defended though, yeah?" he asked.

She stared at him for a moment longer before nodding curtly and speaking. "We have a nuclear warhead programmed to detonate upon my command should the contents of this Archive be compromised."

"But that- you would destroy all of London!" Lios protested before Torin could pick his jaw up. "What about all the people?"

"Acceptable losses - I'm sorry, your name was Lee?"

"Acceptable losses? _Acceptable?_ 8.3 million people are_ acceptable_ losses?" he cried. It was Torin's turn to elbow him in the ribs.

"Yes. The risk of hostiles attaining anything in here is far greater!"

Lios opened his mouth to shout again, but Torin grabbed his arm and glared.

_Mum,_ Lios silently raged. _Mum is at Gran's __right now!__ Don't you get it? If they detonate- Torin, it's not just London! What happens to the timeline? What happens to-_

_I know, alright! I know!_ he retorted. _But they can't! Not that! We just have to sort this without letting them act like stupid apes and blowing everything up!_

_How, Torin? How are we supposed to do that exactly?_ Lios practically pleaded. _How are we going to do anything when they think we're just a couple of stupid companions and we don't even know what's trying to get in here?_

_I don't know! I just know we have to, so we will!_

_Right, loads better, thanks._

_Shut up._

"You can't blow up London," Torin reasoned.

Chaudhry smiled wryly. "I don't intend to if I can help it, Mister - what was your name?"

"Woolfe. Just call me Torin, please."

"Torin Woolfe. And Lee...?"

"Noble-Smith. First name's fine for him too. Please, I just need to talk to the Doctor, can I - er... If I get near that thing, are you going to shoot me?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

A banging sound resounded throughout the room. The creatures had finally torn down the heavy wooden door and were feeling out the vault entrance.

Torin blanched. Not good, but at least - he desperately prayed - they couldn't get through. Wouldn't they've done ages ago if they could?

And why now? Why? Why? None of it made sense!

He made a choice. The Head of UNIT needed a bit of control where she could have it and he needed her to understand her place, and he could do it all in one fell swoop without alienating anyone.

"D'you have a mobile?" he asked the Colonel suddenly.

"Of course, but electronic devices are rendered useless the moment they enter the room. It's all a precaution."

"So, the Prime Minister and everyone else is clueless about- about all this? The rest of UNIT is clueless?"

"Effectively. I'm authorised to make all the decisions in the even of incursion or disaster."

"Right, Li, get her phone and put it to pieces if you can."

His brother withdrew his own sonic to a shrewd look from Chaudhry as Torin ran over to Osgood. She startled as he started digging through her pockets looking for her mobile.

"What're you- Torin, what-"

"Sorry, sorry! I need your... Ha! Sorry, I'm gonna- you're gonna need a new one." He tore off the back plate and dug the battery out as he ran back to where his brother had done the same to Chaudhry's. He began extricating the tiny motherboard on each phone, soldering new connections and amplifying existing circuits.

"Where again did you come from?" Chaudhry asked casually as he worked.

"Didn't say. The future though, and obviously, I'm not an average companion," he hedged. "Right..." he put the Colonel's phone back together and tried to dial. Nothing. He growled before tearing the back plate off again.

"How 'not average?'"

"Please, you worked it out ages ago, didn't you? The Doctor didn't just leave you with nothing, you know. Do you really think he'd have done that? Now, shut up and let me..."

"The satellite signals get scrambled, it isn't the phone," she informed him patiently.

"No... I'm not trying for a... there!" He put it back together and dialled the first number in her contact list. It rang and he grinned. He tossed it back to her. "Satellites are useless. Now, do what you have to do to secure the building. Get civilians out. Do... the military thing, only make sure people are safe. Evacuate London if you have to. Sure, it's Guy Fawkes Night, but let's not have a bigger bang than fireworks, eh?"

Chaudhry stared at her mobile for a moment then at the grinning young man. "I don't make a habit of trusting strangers without good cause. It's saved my life and many others many times. Why should I start now, just answer me that."

"Because we're just as dead as everyone if I give you a single reason not to."

He wasn't taking away her authority, and he wasn't budging on his own.

It was the only answer that Colonel Emily Chaudhry could have believed and her face went from skeptical to determined in moments. She began dialling experimentally. Her eyes widened comically as it rang and the Prime Minister's secretary in Downing Street picked up. "Yes, this is Colonel Chaudhry, I need Prime Minister Jones immediately..."

Torin spun away and ran back to the anomaly, where Osgood and Kate were staring at him like he'd grown several new appendages in various shades of green.

He leaned down next to the younger woman and waggled his eyebrows. "Impressed? I am rather impressive, you know," he preened.

She blushed and went back to her work.

"So, what've you learned then?" he asked her, ignoring the older woman.

Still, it was Kate who answered. "Nothing useful. It has dimension. We can see it, so physically it must, but it isn't measurable. You walk to the other side and it's just gone. It only exists when you're looking at it head on, and from there it looks enormous! Only where's the rest of it? Where's its depth? It isn't expanding or dissolving, it seems to be without matter, or if it has any it's akin to dark matter, and it makes no physical manifestations other than what you see. No shifts in air pressure, no gravitational pull, it emits nothing. No radiation, no real measurable light. It casts no shadows, nothing. It's nothing..."

"Well, your so called 'dark matter,' - which is a ridiculous name for a force responsible for eighty-five percent of all the gravity in the universe - has measurable physical presence and pull so I wouldn't say that it counts as nothing exactly, does it? You're just saying you don't know what it is. Spare me the useless analogies. _Dark matter_, honestly."

Torin jabbed him in the ribs with a knuckle.

"Oh, that was rude, wasn't it? Sorry."

"Who are you? What are you? We've been trying to solve the mystery of dark matter for nearly eighty years and you act like it's child's play."

"Me? I'm just a bloke. A smart bloke though. Miss Stewart, right? I honestly didn't mean to insult you. You're brilliant, I'm sure, have to be to be a top scientist here, yeah? But way off. And I mean you're way off about this. You said the Doctor told you it's a timey thing, right? Well what do you know about time? Time energy emits plenty of radiation, just not the kind you can measure with that rubbish Geiger counter. It's harmless, don't worry. Artron. Same as the TARDIS, yeah? Time travellers are bathed in it constantly with no ill effects, so don't get all human and panicky. And it exists in a dimension not measurable by the tools built for your standard three, that's why you're getting no results. Time isn't physically measurable, is it? So what useful thing have you done? Have you tried chucking in something small? You know, just as an experiment?"

"The Doctor threw a hat through," Osgood chimed when her superior didn't respond, "but we haven't wanted to risk potentially enlarging it by touching or-"

"Did it get bigger after they went in?"

"Not to my eye," Kate replied finally, "but I wasn't measuring. It could have been infinitesimal, but we can't risk even that setting off a larger reaction."

"Right." He picked up a tape measure and hurled it at the tear.

Kate and Osgood made strangled noises as it passed straight through and hit the wall behind.

"Well, that solves that one."

"Are you mad?" Kate demanded. She scrubbed her hands down her face and stood up. She started to pace as she kept her eyes glued to the tear, praying nothing would happen. "What if-"

"A bit mad, yeah, I suppose, but it did nothing, so let's not worry too much about the 'what if's,' alright?" Humans and their insistence on being frightened of the unknown. How would they ever learn without taking some risks? They didn't have time to be faffing about with idiocy. Couldn't they hear the metal being scratched at by insistent claws? He needed their focus elsewhere and he needed them to let him get on with locating the Doctor.

He moved closer to it and felt his brother move in close behind as a safety net, ready to grab him in half a moment should Torin need.

"Don't!" Kate cried.

Torin ignored her and tentatively reached a hand out and tried to touch, only to feel nothing as the anomaly bent and compensated in swirling drifts around his appendage.

Kate was positively spitting nails. "Young man! I watched two-"

"Right, yes, thanks. I'm at least twice your age Miss Stewart, so spare me, alright? I'm not doing anything I can't handle. Can you trust that? If not, just shut up and get out of it."

Osgood eyed them uncomfortably and puffed on her inhaler.

Kate took a deep breath and nodded. She didn't like it, but the mysterious companion who had popped up out of nowhere had not only as good as admitted he was like the Doctor, but had given several demonstrations inside of five minutes. She had to let some things go if they were to move forward and at least he had a direction.

_One way at a time, do you think? Or Doctor-specific?_ Lios asked him silently.

_You go, and we'll see._

The brothers returned their focus to the fissure and switched places. Lios performed the same actions his brother had earlier to the same results. Which was nothing much. Only time bending around the proffered limb.

_Doctor only then. Brilliant. _Torin asked as he moved in front of his brother once more,_ Well, s'pose it's the old standby then?_

Lios rolled his eyes and accorded him a glance that said, 'get on with it.'

"Doctor?" he shouted into the swirling mass of radiation and nothing.

They waited a few moments on bated breath with no response before Lios poked his brother once more into action. Torin swatted blindly behind him in retaliation.

"Doctor, they said you'd gone through this," what was he going to call it? Time-blob? Sparkly-Artron-cloud? Rip-thing? He knew what it felt like, but if it had a name, he'd never learnt it, though the Doctor wasn't likely to care, and who knew if he could even hear him on the other side?

"Oi!" Lios hissed. "Focus!"

"Right... er..." he shrugged and blurted, "This _thing." Oh, very eloquent._ "Can you hear me?" He swatted again at the hand Lios was using to grip his arm like a vice. "Ow! Watch it, you plonker. I'm not falling in! Can't! You don't have to give me a dead-arm."

"Sorry. Think it's pointless?"

"Dunno, I-"

_"Oi!" _came the Doctor's disembodied voice through the breach. Far from sounding chuffed that they could communicate, he sounded down right angry to be hearing Torin at all.

Torin's ears reddened and he smoothed his curls down over them. He didn't really want the Doctor annoyed at them. He wasn't really up for rowing with his elders the way his sister so often did, and he didn't currently need a bollocking like he was fifty and taking apart the cooker again.

_"What are you doing? Why aren't you back in the TARDIS? What is going on?"_

Perfect. Angry Doctor, angry scientists, angry military, angry moles. What more could he add to the list? Daleks? Zygons? Shadow Proclamation? Squirrels? He shuddered. He really didn't like squirrels.

"Yeah," he hesitated. What was he going to say? Come back because the humans are nutters and they'll kill my mum before I'm born if the mole-people don't go away? Oh, and we nearly got shredded by one looking for you? Sorry, we didn't go back to the ship, but the alien-busters had us cornered in a laboratory? None of it was going to improve the old man's mood. "Bit of a glitch." _Understatement of the millennia._ "There's a load of - er -" _potentially deadly things, big claws, big guns, scanners, idiots, humans,_ "hostile things between us and the TARDIS and..." Why did he feel like he was going to be grounded by his mum? "We came looking for you, but you disappeared!"

The Doctor's voice sounded marginally less angry than concerned when he next spoke._ "Where is-"_

"He's here! We're both here." Well, at least he wasn't jumping back through and boxing his ears the way his mum would've. The relief made him want to babble. "Osgood's here, and so is Kate Stewart and - er - what was her name again?" And at least he was keeping the Doctor abreast of the situation so he could choose his words. "Right! Colonel Chaudhry!" _Now the important bits._ "Only, we're stuck in the Archive 'cos there's mole-men, and Chaudhry's saying mad things about warheads and blowing up London-"

A new and yet incredibly, achingly familiar voice interrupted his tirade. _"Whoa, whoa, slow down. Reverse it. What is going on?"_

"Oi, who is that?" Torin demanded. "That sounded like-"

Lios kicked him hard and almost sent him to the ground in a pile of lanky, dishevelled limbs.

Their Doctor's voice floated to them once more sounding tired and resigned, _"Me, another me. Just answer him- me."_

"Right..." Hearing his father's voice unexpectedly still had him reeling, and instead of answering properly, he blurted, "Which you? What are you lot doing and where are you exactly?"

_"Is that important right now? Warheads, London, focus!"_ his Doctor chided shrilly.

"Oh, er... The soldiers in the outside disappeared. Should've been loads only the corridor was empty when we came down. It's sent Colonel Chaudhry, who's in charge I guess- well, not guess, she told me she was - into a bit of a panic and now she's on the mobile I fixed with Harriet Jones. Mobiles don't work in here so it took a bit of jiggery-pokery- did I say we're in the Black Archive? And the things are trying to get in here now too - only they don't seem very smart so they can't be in charge... I'm cocking this up. Let me start over. We got chased by one of the things and I'm betting it was the mole-things took them-"

_"Wha'?" _interrupted another voice with a Northern accent.

_"Never mind!"_

_"Who is this idiot? Can't keep a thought straight. Companion? 'S tha' who you were lookin' for?"_ retorted the Northern again.

_"Oi, Ears! Fingers on lips!"_ came their father's voice.

"Blimey, just how many of you are there?" Torin called, wishing he could actually see through the undulating portal.

_"Too many,"_ replied a softer and completely unfamiliar one with a posh lilt.

"Brilliant!" Once again his brother gave him a kick. "Oi, you don't stop doing that, I'll have you!" he growled and turned to glare at his abusive sibling.

_"Wha'?"_

"Not you! Never mind!" He drew in a deep breath and said the next as fast as he could to avoid interruption by one of the many Doctors or kicks from Lios. "Mole creatures! They're the ones mucking with the stones outside the Black Archive. They took all the soldiers who were guarding outside, it was empty when we came down. We looked about and one came up behind us and chased us into the vault, only they can't see or smell, yeah? So there's gotta be something or someone else behind them. The Colonel is saying she has to do whatever it takes to keep them from getting into the Archive and that includes blowing up London with a nuke! And may I add that would be really, really bad as _someone still lives here?"_

_"'Safe as houses,' eh?" _their Doctor's voice sounded as annoyed as he'd ever heard it.

"What? No, not safe as houses! No one here is safe as-"

_"I wasn't talking to you!"_

"Oh. Then say!"

_"Have you tried coming though?"_

"I touched it and so did Li. Does nothing for us. Have you tried coming back?"

No answer came their way.

"Doctor?"

_"Just tried, it isn't-"_

"Only _just?_ Doctor!"

_"Look, is this the time to have a go at me? It's a timey-wimey - thing! Not like I've ever encountered one like it!"_

_"Timey-wimey?"_ came the posh voice, dripping with incredulous disdain.

_"No idea where he picks this stuff up," _their father's voice snarked.

_"Right, because you __never__-"_

_"Are you capable of speaking without flapping your hands about?"_

_"Yes. No. Look, what do you care? You wax melancholic about Puccini and write terrible poetry! Now shut up! Boys, I need you two to come and get us out! If we fix the fissure there, I'm almost certain it'll fix the fissure here and obviously, we're needed there more than here. Not quite pleasant here either. Dick Van Dyke, you've your TARDIS here, right? Fine, we'll go back in that!"_

"Where are you?"

A long moment passed before their Doctor answered again. _"In a dungeon in the Tower..."_

Torin couldn't help his snort of laughter, which unfortunately also set Lios off into a muffled fit of his own.

_"Oi! Not like I got arrested! That was Sandshoes!"_

_"They __aren't__ sand shoes!" _cried their father's voice indignantly.

_"Yes, they are,"_ came the softer, unrecognisable one again.

"All of you, shut up!" Lios called, trying to reestablish something of direction in the strange conversation. "Doctor, what do we need to do?"

_"Who was tha'? He wasn't the same as the las' one."_

_"Does it matter?"_

_"Well, he is right in it may be helpful to know who exactly it is that we are so very dependent upon, though your taste in assistants, I must tell you, seems as questionable as your fashion."_

_"Don' agree with me! Don' talk to me! Don't talk, full stop! Like you've any room to, you bleedin' dandy wan-"_

_"Pretty sure I've said I really didn't want to hear that word again. Behave. All of you - me - us."_

"Blimey, that's weird. 'S like a psychologist's dream, innit? Physically manifested Dissociative Identity Disorder? Or is it schizophrenia?" Torin laughed and nudged his brother who rolled his eyes.

_"Oi!"_ came a chorus of three, accompanied by an offended, _"I beg your pardon?"_

_"Oh, shut up. Where's Emily?"_


	26. In Discord and Rhyme

**A/N: I do not own Doctor Who. All recognisable dialog from DotD isn't mine, though, I didn't use much this chapter. Still, not mine where I needed to.**

**This was nearly all originally part of the last chapter but I split it for length. It's still a monster. Each time I've switched between locations probably could've been its own chapter, but honestly? I hate having to come up with so many titles and it's a long fic as it is. Points for knowing which song this title came from.  
**

**I am putting out the call for a beta. **

**To this point I've been going it solo, but I really need someone to help me sort through the myriad of directions which are calling out to me. I have a clear destination, but the roads to get there are forked and pulling me to pieces, and because it's getting so long, I'm tempted to end it after this adventure is completed and continue the remainder in a sequel story. If you're willing, I'd love to reciprocate, or do some cover artwork for you, or both. Please, just shoot me an email or a pm.**

**Onward!**

* * *

.

* * *

"Doctor," Chaudhry called through the swirling portal, "I'm here."

_"Right, good, grand. Can you get them to my TARDIS?"_

The Colonel glanced at the two companions, who were looking at her hopefully, and shook her head. "The entirety of the two lower basement levels have been electro-magnetically sealed off and a containment field has been generated. We're not taking any risks. The containment field encloses everything subterranean for an entire city block, and every UNIT soldier has orders to terminate anything that tries to come out of it. Your companion ensured we could do our best to contain the excursion, and the public has been evacuated from the Tower and the surrounding area. We were able to tell the press it is a dangerous gas leak, and with it being the fifth, we can't risk the explosions from the bonfires. I'm very thankful, but it has sealed us inside with it."

_"So, no TARDIS then. Well, option B it is. I need Kate and Osgood the Intern to look through the Archive for a few things for the boys to put together into… a time-travely thingy. I need you to get them to the floor above. I am carving coordinates into a stone to send at least one of them to me."_

"How are we supposed to get a floor up?" Torin cried. "In case you forgot, we're a little trapped by creatures that want in!"

"I have a side arm and plenty of experimental weapons here, Doctor. I'll see it done."

"We're not trying to kill anyone!" Lios gasped.

"Sometimes it can't be helped," she challenged with a stern look. "I have been authorised by the Prime Minister to handle this threat immediately and in whatever capacity necessary to ensure the survival of Earth, Mr Noble-Smith. I trust the Doctor, he needs you, it is therefore my duty to see that no harm comes to you, even if that means alien casualties."

"But-"

_"She's right, and I'm telling you now, Emily Chaudhry doesn't take life unnecessarily. Listen to her, both of you. If she feels you're in danger, you are. I don't want either of you hurt, do you understand me?"_

Both men held their silence and looked at their feet.

"_Oi! Do you understand? How do you expect to help if you get killed? Think about it! And your sister would find me and murder me if I let anything happen to you!"_

"Yes, Doctor, we understand," replied Lios.

"What are we building?" Torin ground out through gritted teeth.

_"A space hopper. One of you might go looking with Kate for-"_

"Doctor," Kate piped up from her seat where she was worrying at the useless instruments on the table, "we have in the Archive a gift left to us a year ago by River Song. She never described its exact purpose, but it resembles a thick leather watch and she used it as a travel device whenever she visited."

_"What? When did she- why was she- she could've just given it to- never mind! Oh, River you beautiful thing!"_

"I assumed the last time she was here that she was leaving it because it was broken."

"I can sort it, don't worry," Torin said holding up his sonic screwdriver. "Where is it?"

"Follow me, Mr Woolfe," Kate said as she stood and indicated he should follow her. The two disappeared between rows of dusty artefacts.

Another loud bang at the steel vault door made them all jump.

"Right, well, that leaves us and the creatures," Lios sighed. "We'll need a plan."

"And time," the Colonel nodded. "Have you any weapons experience, young man?"

"No, but I wouldn't touch one anyway," he said apologetically. "I'm- I'm sorry. I just…"

_"No one is asking you to. Emily can handle anything."_

"Oh, I hope you're right, Doctor, I really hope you're right. There's an awful lot of them and one of me."

_"I have faith in you, and Li? Remember their hearing."_

Lios lit up with a grin and smacked himself on the forehead, suddenly feeling quite a bit more confident.

_"I'm going to etch the coordinates into a stone here, all you'll need to do once the manipulator is functional is input the coordinates. We can all travel back together. Em?"_

"Yes, Doctor?"

_"Do you think you can go and find whatever supplies you'll need?"_

The Colonel glanced at the blond man and the intern. She wasn't comfortable leaving him unsupervised. "Osgood, keep an eye on this one," she said sternly.

_"Oi! He's helpin' you!"_ came a younger voice.

_"Oh, shut up, you. Colonel, I promise we won't plot anything untoward in your absence."_

"Very well, Doctor," she sighed incredulously with a significant look at Osgood, who nodded nervously and puffed on her inhaler. Chaudhry too, quietly disappeared between the large, technology-filled shelves.

"She's gone," Lios said softly as soon as Chaudhry had disappeared, holding Osgood's gaze.

_"Good, we need to be able to land the TARDIS directly inside the Archive. Is there a computer terminal nearby? Can you look up what systems they're using to block my access?"_

The two young people continued to stare at each other for a few moments in silence until Osgood gave a small nod, telling him to get on with it.

"Osgood, do you know what it is?"

She shifted in place, looking extremely uncomfortable, and nodded again. "I'm not supposed to, but I've heard them talk about it. I've helped compile information about the Doctor and his companions down here a few times. It was always exciting… I just…"

"Osgood, I'd never say anything, and I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"I know. I just… feel disloyal."

"If you save eight point three million human lives, will you still feel that way?"

"Blimey, you're as bad as your brother."

"Sorry, sorry." Lios grimaced. "I know. I'm not purposely trying to manipulate you, really. It's just, it's true. There's a time to be loyal to UNIT, and a time to be loyal to your species. I can find it on my own if you really feel strongly. I'll even put you to sleep if you want." He touched his temple in demonstration. "But only with your permission. I wouldn't unless you wanted. I just don't want you to get in trouble."

"I think Atkins might be cross if you do. Don't think he'd stay at the door any longer if you did that, and Miss Chaudhry's looking for guns, isn't she. Not very safe for you, is it? You're my first aliens. What kind of liaison will I make if my first aliens get shot on my watch?" She chuckled. "I'll help. You know I want to help."

"Osgood, one day you're gonna save the world all on your own."

She snorted, but smiled and led him to the centre of the vault before pointing up. A blinking device on the ceiling hummed almost imperceptibly. It was giving off electromagnetic waves, and was undoubtably the device creating the containment barrier the colonel had mentioned… which was a problem…

Lios trotted back to the time portal and winced at having to deliver the news.

"Doctor?"

_"Yes? Have you done it?"_

"Yeah, er, no. We've a problem."

_"Oh, what now?"_

"Well, you see, the device keeping you out? It's an Abraxian Field Generator and possibly- probably powering their containment field… If I shut if off, the whole thing goes down. Everywhere. They lose their protection."

A series of Gallifreyan swearwords was uttered by multiple voices on the other side of the tear.

Lios blushed and fidgeted while Osgood looked impressed by the foreign sounds. She started to ask what had been said, but the young man turned an even darker shade of red, and looked resolutely at his feet so she stopped herself.

_"What are we going to do? Can't walk in from the street when they're on a lock down, and a vortex manipulator is never going to carry all of us, even if we amp the hell out of it. What the hell are we going to do?"_

Lios looked up at Osgood once more. "I… I really hate to ask you to do this…"

_"Wha'?"_

_"Don't think he's talking to us."_

"We only need it powered down for… Doctor? How long?"

_"Maybe five minutes,"_ came his father's voice._ "Ten tops."_

_"So long as you get the landing right."_

_"Oi! There're four of us! We'll get the landing right!"_

"Doctor, you're not helping," Lios groaned. "We have to be able to get back in."

"I know. What do I have to do?"

He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and put it in her hands. "You aim it at the generator, push this little part up to setting 92-b, and hold it for no more than four seconds. Any longer and it'll short out completely and we _have_ to be able to restart it quickly."

"That's pretty simple."

"Simple, but you have to be exact, Osgood, I can't stress it enough."

She nodded solemnly. "How will I know when to do it?"

_"That'll be a bit trickier, we'll tell you when we're on the way but I have no way of knowing what happens when we leave this cell. We'll just have to make that part up as we go, I think."_

_"Right! Brilliant! Winging it?"_

_"Love winging it."_

_"He said he fixed up Chaudhry's mobile, yeah? Have 'im nick it an' leave it with the girl, we'll call her from the TARDIS."_

_"Now that's not bad! Think you can manage?"_

"Yes... I don't like it, but yes."

_"Fantastic."_

Lios loosed an annoyed sigh and shot an apology to Osgood with his eyes. "Sorry. If we hadn't taken yours..."

"It's alright."

Torin trotted back toward them with Kate close behind. Both had arms laden with various pieces of machinery, and Torin was sporting a sunny grin at the prospect of tinkering with so many foreign objects.

Osgood quickly slipped the sonic device in her lab coat, looking innocent and interested as Torin set his load down on the work table.

"Doctor!" he exclaimed in his glow. "You should see some of the stuff they have just sitting there collecting dust! Blimey, had the Alpha known it was here, you couldn't have stopped her from coming when we turned Jack down! Of course, more than half of it is complete rubbish - and by rubbish, I mean they could bin enough to dam the Thames, and they're totally wasting their time- oh, rude, sorry, but have you _seen_ it?"

Kate groaned and set her armful next to the pile he'd amassed. She had enough to worry about without the Doctor nosing through the Black Archive every chance he got, binning whatever he deemed junk.

_"Some, yes. I heard that, Kate, don't think we won't be having a chat."_

"Yes, I'm sure we will, Doctor," she sighed. "Can we focus on this for now?"

"Ye-p. Try and stop me!" Torin agreed cheerfully as he started examining the vortex manipulator which had belonged to the Doctor's late wife. "This thing is knackered, but not done for."

_"Fine, just see to it. I'm carving coordinates for you now."_

"Where do we look?" asked Lios.

* * *

.

* * *

"Dungeon-ish area," the Doctor told the young man through the swirling mass. "Lower level one, just above the Archive, I should think. A stone in the near the far left wall in the cell at the end."

_"Doctor, if they've eaten and replaced the stone, will it still be there?"_ came a mousy female voice he'd assumed belonged to Osgood the Intern.

"Well, we didn't test them on this level, but we're winging it! We'll just have to think on our feet if you can't find it, won't we?"

_"Can't you just tell them what to put?"_ she asked.

_"Doesn't work like that. There aren't words for some of the required coordinates when you want to be this precise, only symbols,"_ answered Lios, fudging slightly.

The truth was, he could speak the Gallifreyan they needed, but neither of them had mastered it enough to be sure they'd get it right. Giving them something concrete was best. It was the very reason the Doctor hadn't bothered suggesting they use the manipulator to move to the upper floor. He couldn't risk them missing by a week or popping into an area where they'd be shot on sight. He mentally applauded Lios for his quick misdirection.

_"Oh. That's sort of weird, isn't it. Though, I guess it makes sense if you factor in more than three dimensions."_

_"That's time and space!"_ exclaimed Torin. _"Formulas and maths you've never dreamed, Osgood! You lot don't think about things in a way it would make sense, do you?"_

They were all silent for a few minutes, three of them pacing like caged animals while the youngest and the golden apparition watched.

"How much longer?" the oldest called when he'd lost patience.

_"Oi! Not exactly easy, this, is it? Never done this! Not saying I can't just, you're gonna have to wait a bit, alright?"_

"Your companion seems to have a streak of cheek, doesn't he?" snorted Sandshoes.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Don't they all? Has Emily come back?"

_"Yes, Doctor. I'm here and ready."_

"Good. Boys, what about you? Who's staying?"

_"I'm going,"_ they both chorused.

_"No you're not! I'm older, you stay!"_

_"You're not going without me!"_

_"What? No! I'm- you-"_

_"You're not leaving me!"_

_"He's staying,"_ repeated Torin firmly. _"Doctor, tell him."_

_"No! Do you think I'm going to actually let you go out there on your own? You're mad!"_

_"It's safer here! And what if they need you, you idiot? What, you're just going to leave them to their own-"_

_"We stay together! You are all I have right now! Don't you get it?"_

_"Exactly, you plonker! Why do you think-"_

"Fingers on lips!" cried the Doctor in pinstripes.

He sighed and scrubbed hand down his face.

_"Doctor, we stay together."_

He could tell by the stubborn tone in the younger brother's voice, which was identical to the tone his mother always used when she was going to defy his wishes, that he wasn't going to win this argument. "No point in arguing, go together. Just watch each other's backs. More eyes might be better in any case. Are you ready?"

_"Yes."_

"Be careful."

_"Atkins, take this. Whatever happens nothing gets in farther than you, understand?"_

_"Yes, ma'am."_

They heard a gun cock and the clanking of metal, then a terrible squealing and the sound of sharp instruments against steel. A loud bang thundered as large bodies hurled themselves against the barrier, and the clang of the vault door crashing against the wall.

"Colonel!" the Doctor cried. "What are you waiting for?"

The sharp, sizzling noises of electricity discharging floated out to them along with the thumping of large objects. The sound of metal-meeting-metal followed by a heavy thunk resounded once more. Not even the sound of breathing could be heard for more than thirty seconds after.

"What _happened?"_ he interrogated in desperation. "Are you all alright?"

_"Shhh!"_ came Lios' voice. _"Doctor, we have to stay as silent as possible now."_

"Oh. Yes…. How are we still talking?"

_"Dunno it- the portal just sort of… followed us,"_ Torin murmured.

"Did you kill it?"

They heard a huff, and Emily click her tongue against her cheek. _"No,"_ she whispered harshly. _"Just put them out for a while. Now, shhh."_

He fidgeted, the others paced. They all jumped about a foot in the air when a keening wail pierced the air.

Everyone froze in place, not even daring to breathe.

The high-frequency whine moved in closer, as if using sonar to locate its quarry.

The Doctor balled his hands into fists and he wished more than anything he'd just stayed a while longer before recklessly jumping through another bloody time-window and trapping himself where he couldn't rescue people he cared about. One would think he'd have learned the first time.

The tension was palpable enough to cut with a knife when the shot rang out.

The creature screamed and fell with a muffled thud of furry flesh. They could hear three sets of feet pounding against stone as the trio made their escape.

Feet continued to slap against stone and ragged breaths puffed and panted. They could hear faint scraping of sharp claws drawing ever nearer, and more of the high-pitched chatter, until a hearts-stopping cry filled the air.

He wasn't sure which brother it came from but the voice was male and in pain.

_"Get it off him!"_ Lios screamed.

_"I'm trying!"_ Emily cried in return. _"My revolver jammed and I lost the stunner when it hit me the first time!"_

_"Don't you have anything else?"_

_"I can't get it and hold this from killing him!"_

Torin screamed again and they could hear the muffled sounds of flesh impacting flesh in fierce blows.

"Lios! The sonic!"

Emily howled in pain and they could hear the crack of bones, and the slap of flesh against stone.

_"I left- I can't- I can't! Torin! I can't-"_

The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the fissure and emitted a sound he hoped would incapacitate the creature.

The effect was immediate. The monster roared and three sets of feet were running once more, though one sounded as though it had a pronounced limp.

Tiny pings of metal casings hitting stone fell away as Chaudhry righted her service revolver.

Once again the scrape of claws on stone began to assert itself, drawing ever closer and setting all teeth on edge.

Each of the doctors held their screwdrivers ready on their side. Perhaps the combined frequencies would be more effective.

_"Go!"_ Shouted the Colonel. _"I'm bleeding too much! I'm only slowing you! Just go! It isn't much further! Go! I'll hold it off!"_

_"No!"_ Shouted the brothers as they too stopped.

_"Go!"_ she screamed again. They heard revolver fire fill the air again. _"Go!"_

_"We won't-"_

_"Doctor!"_ She shouted.

"Do as she says!" he shouted at them. "Emily, don't you dare give up. You get yourself to the door, do you understand?"

_"Yes! Now, go!"_

The sound of metal pinged against stone again, and more fire started soon after though it was fading into the distance.

A faint whirring, and a metal door creaking then slamming shut soon followed.

Each man silently mourned his former companion. Emily was a brave woman and a fantastic leader. While some hope remained, and he would always cling to the idea that she might have lived, the realist inside had given her up the moment she stopped moving and started shooting.

Silence reigned. Not even footsteps came through to them, and it started to eat at each of him.

What happened to the two? What were they doing? Had the fissure stopped following? Did it have a limited travel area? Were they injured? Were they captured? What was happening?

"Are you…" the Doctor in leather chanced.

_"We're fine,"_ came the answering whisper. _"We thought… we should… we shouldn't just-"_

"You can't. You need to keep moving," their Doctor bit out through clenched jaws. "She will make it if she can, but _do not_ let the chance she's given you go to waste. Where are you?"

_"By the stairs,"_ Torin choked. _"Soldiers inside and by the lifts. Complicates everything without the Colonel…"_

"Do your best. Keep to the shadows. You know what to do."

_"Yeah, just… We're sneaking around in UNIT headquarters with soldiers and mole-men everywhere! And we're in the creepy dungeon…"_ the young man grumbled quietly through the breach. _"The Alpha always does this bit."_

"Well, she's unavailable at the moment. Really, you'd think you boys would've picked up a thing or two with all the-"

_"Doctor! Not the time!"_ Lios urged.

"Oh, don't you start with the ordering about! Of all the things to imitate of your sister's- wait, can you do that silent thing she does with her feet?"

_"Doctor! If we can hear you, so can they!"_

"Oh, right." He lowered his volume. "Oi, did I or did I not build each of you a sonic? What're you faffing about for? Create a diversion!"

_"Right."_

"Who are these men again?" the slightly befuddled Doctor in the sand shoes demanded in a huffy hiss. "New companions?"

"Sort of," he frowned in reply and turned his attention back to the time fissure.

"And you've built them _a sonic?_ Why would you do that? Humans with sonic devices. Brilliant, you are. That's like giving a grenade to a toddler! What happens to my brain? Are you totally and completely touched?"

He gaped like a fish out of water at himself, unable to quite formulate the proper answer.

_"Oi! We can hear you, you know! Rude much?"_ Torin ground out as loud as he dared. _"I happen to be very handy with a sonic, thanks. Been using one my whole life! Why, I've had the TARDIS practically purring since I was sixty- ouch! Prat! Oh. Sixteen. I meant sixteen. Right. Shutting it."_

All eyes seemed riveted to their successor.

Behind him the Bad Wolf grinned at the youngest of the Doctors. She prowled cat-like around the man the dandy-turned-soldier would eventually become, appraisingly taking in his awkward hand flapping. "Will he say, do you think?" She purred.

He was suddenly very keen on the identities of these men in question himself.

"Sod it, you lot are gonna forget all this anyway. They're my sons. Sort of. Mostly. Well, yes. Mine. Our sons."

_"Blimey… Li, did you hear-"_

_"Shhh."_

"They've a sister as well, that is to say, we've a daughter too. Three. We've three. More. Three more."

Daft Ears actually had to sit down.

Sandshoes now took over as the lead gaping fish while he tried to disentangle the jumbled thoughts and words which threatened any moment to become an unstoppable flood.

Yet, the youngest of them was the only one to speak.

"That's all very nice. Who are they really? Where did you find them?" Could he live with becoming a man so desperate for connection that he started _adopting_ the strays he found? What sort of long-lived species had he stolen them from in order to stave off the inevitable desolation off death? How broken was he exactly? Could it really have gotten worse than it was? Of course it could. His people were gone in his future, and the enormity of that threatened to overwhelm him as he pondered it.

_"You know, ehehe, Dad, you used to be a bit of a git,"_ Torin snorted._ "It's alright though, doesn't get too much worse."_

_"Shut your gob and give them a minute!"_

_"Right."_

_"And you lot! Keep it down or move away - just be quieter!"_

"Why would you bring _children_ into the life we lead?" the youngest man insisted, not troubling to move from his position or check his volume.

"Doesn't matter." He put his finger to his lips and widened his eyes at the poet-turned-soldier. "They're _mine._ Ours. Are you suggesting I should've abandoned them?" he challenged with an almost goading smile.

"Of course not, but have you forgotten Adric?"

The older him turned away in disgust. Had he forgotten Adric? Really? What a thing to say. As if he ever could. As if it didn't haunt him with the rest of his failings and the rest of the deaths which made him hate himself every moment. As if thinking about Adric didn't terrify him that he would fail these boys so completely.

The apparition was staring at the oldest Doctor with a curious expression. She'd lost a bit of her predatory mystery and looked just… hungry…

"Their… mother? I have ta know…" his post-war self was hunched over as he spoke with his head in his hands. He couldn't reconcile the idea of ever loving another, but how could it possibly be her? It couldn't, she was human and fragile, and the realisation gripped like steel bands around his hearts… Only they were alone with him, and perhaps… No, it just wasn't possible - unless he'd found a way to get a hold of… he had loom schematics after all… he might've modified... He folded his arms and drew his brows together to examine all the possibilities, and asked himself exactly of what he would be capable if Rose Tyler asked.

Sandshoes was still eyeing him suspiciously.

"Oh, shut up, the lot of you- me. I don't have to justify anything to any of you. You'll see them soon enough and they'll get us out of here."

_"Er-right, give us a bit!"_

An blaring alarm sounded in the distance and the sound of heavy boots running passed. When it was quiet once again, they heard a door open with a tiny creek before a shout and a scuffle of bodies. The whir of a sonic was quickly followed by sparks and a heavy thud of a body falling.

"Alright?" called Leather after a few moments.

_"Yeah, they only left one... he's in a cupboard, but the rest'll be back soon and if they find him... we're almost to the next level... We have to go faster! See if you can access codes to the doors farther down from here. Maybe if they open and close on their own this lot'll go check it out."_

_"Sometimes you're totally daft, Big Brother-"_

_"Oi!"_

_"-and sometimes I'm willing to admit we're related." _

_"Brilliant, let's go!"_

They should've been discovering the coordinates he'd carved any moment, even if they had raised a few alarms Selene wouldn't have.

"Well, that's that, I suppose," the tenth said with a puff of his cheeks and a sigh. "Now we wait."

"Perfect," huffed Leather.

"Better ideas are always welcome," snarked the eleventh. "Oh, right, I've just remembered, we haven't any, so less stating the obvious and more shutting up."

"Arse."

"Prat."

"Really clever, aren't you?" the Doctor in the suit spat.

"You started it!" the Doctor in tweed returned.

"Never mind that, we still haven't even given a thought to why we're all even here! Why are we all together? What's the point? You! Dandylocks! Ears and Chinny were surprised when they came through, but you, you came looking for us. You knew it was going to happen. Who told you? Who created the fissure?"

"Oi, _Chinny?"_

"Yeah, you do have a chin."

"Must you act like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grown-up? Omega take you all, the way you look at me! What is that? I can only describe it as dread! It's pitiful."

"It must be really recent for you," intoned the tenth as the ninth turned from the man he was in disgust. Dread didn't half cover what they felt.

"Recent?"

"The Time War. The last day of the Time War. The day you killed them all," replied the oldest in a detached voice.

"The day _we_ killed them all," spat the Doctor in leather.

"Same thing," the oldest breezed, carving the coordinates a little deeper with his sonic.

The war-torn man shook his head and distanced himself further from his future. He was frustrated and confused, and had so many conflicting feelings over this new development, he couldn't bear to look at himself.

The Bad Wolf still hovered too near, seeming almost to taunt him with the decision for which he knew had no possible right answer. Far from being a comfort or giving him any clear direction, she had simply brought him more reason to deplore the idea of living through the end of the war. How could he become this- this man-child? How could he fall lower than he already had? Did they even care about being the Doctor any longer, or had he permanently given up the name and everything it ever meant? Was there any hope left at all?

The ragged woman looked upon him in his struggle with a hard, expectant expression. He was failing her as well and he knew it. Perhaps she wouldn't even allow him to make the choice any longer knowing how far his failings reached. Perhaps she would find him altogether wanting and destroy him along with Gallifrey after all.

"Go on," she insisted. "_Ask_ them. Ask them what you need to know."

He turned his haunted blue eyes up to her before steeling his expression and looking down at his hands. "Did you ever count?"

"Count what?" responded the Doctor in tweed when no one else spoke up.

"How many children were on Gallifrey that day."

He shrugged and kept his eyes strictly on his task. "I have absolutely no idea."

The youngest raked his hands through his short curls with a slight yank, resisting the urge to start cursing. "How old are you now?"

"I don't know. I lose track. Twelve hundred and something, I think, unless I'm lying. I'm probably lying, but I can't remember if I'm lying about my age. That's how old I am."

He tore his gaze from his fists and stared with hatred at the floppy-haired fool hell-bent on making him sure he'd rather take his own life than live to become him. "You're at least four hundred years older than I am now and, in all that time, you never even _wondered_ how many there were? You never once counted?"

Said floppy-haired fool stopped his whirring abruptly and turned to the youngest of his present incarnations with an expression made of stone and disgust. "Tell me," he hissed, "what would be the point?"

"Two point four seven billion," came the chorus from his other two selves.

The post-war Doctor's stormy visage closed in on itself immediately, and he withdrew as far from the others as he could. He was shaking and wasn't certain he could control himself in the rage he felt.

The next was fuming and far from caring whether he controlled his rage or not. _"You forgot?"_ he breathed as he stepped very close into his future self's space. He was inches from the older man's face, the Oncoming Storm raging behind brown eyes. "Four hundred years? Is that all it takes? Four hundred years? Two point four seven billion children dead, and you _forgot!_"

The oldest did not back down. He did not flinch; he did not move, excepting the storm raging behind his own green. "I moved on," he said flatly.

The younger was taken aback, but did not move out of the aggressive position he had adopted. "Really. You moved on? Where? Where can you possibly be now that you can forget something like that?"

This was too much for the eldest. Flashes assaulted him of the Master, Rassilon, of his mother and brother kneeling with their faces covered in forced penance and shame; Gallifrey in the sky above the Earth, holding a gun on his oldest friend and enemy, screaming at a helpless, good-hearted old man and then absorbing lethal amounts of radiation. Goodbyes. Lost humans torturing the last Star Whale; Silurians forced to remain in hibernation due to prevailing hate. Cracks. Being shot by a Dalek- again. The Pandorica and the end of everything; playing Schrodinger's cat while waiting to be remembered into existence. Millions of Cyber Soldiers exploding in space at his hand; the Silence systematically executed by his doing, and bloody Demon's Run. Being poisoned, and shot at Lake Silencio by a woman his own existence tortured into madness; the woman who loved him enough to risk the universe who he couldn't love with the same fervour, but married anyway. Planets of insane Daleks turning flesh into soldiers. Weeping Angels and paradoxes. Sending River off to die with a fancy dinner and a forced smile. Lost family. Suffering. Suffering everywhere, all the time. Everywhere he looked, always suffering. A planet destroyed by hate because they resembled insects; a tortured TARDIS in the centre of a volcano and millions of ancient beings dead. Rose Tyler burned away into memories and kept by a broken timeship. His children alone for months with no hope, his daughter sick and in pain from regeneration with no one to help her - alone because _he_ hadn't gotten it together in time to help. Like she was now. Like Torin and Lios floundering at UNIT, alone and in need. Loneliness everywhere. Everyone was always left alone.

Forget? He should know better. He never forgot a single moment, he only got better at lying about it.

"Spoilers," he spat and walked away.

Before he could get more than four steps, the younger man grabbed him and shouted, "No! No, no, no, no, no, for once, I would like to know where I'm going!"

He yanked his arm free from the skinny man and got right back up into his face. "No. You really wouldn't."

"I don't know who you've become," cried the eighth, jumping to his feet and pacing while tugging furiously at his hair. "Any of you! I haven't the faintest! What happened? When did you lose your way?"

"They're still you," the apparition said softly. "They're what you become if you destroy Gallifrey: the man who withdraws from his oath, the man who regrets his oath, and the man who forgets his oath. The moment is coming, Doctor. The Moment is me. You have only to decide. What will you become? What will we all become?"

The youngest let out a cry of frustration and slumped against the wall, head in his hands. "I don't want this!"

The oldest chuckled and shook his head as he looked at the frustrated version of himself.

"I'm sorry." Ten's brow contracted with ill-concealed fury and disgust. "Is something funny? Did I miss a funny thing?"

Eleven raked his fingers through his wayward fringe and continued to survey each of himself with a sneer. "Sorry. It just occurred to me that this is what I'm like when I'm alone. Stop worrying your pretty head over it. The boys will be here soon and, with any luck, we'll never have to look at each other again."

* * *

.

* * *

The brothers listened to all the Doctors bicker as they crept along the corridor, ducking into alcoves where they could, and hoping against hope that they wouldn't be discovered.

_"Better ideas are always welcome. Oh, right, I've just remembered, we haven't any, so less with the stating the obvious and more with the shutting up."_

They were both still reeling after losing the Colonel. As much as they didn't want anyone nuking London, she hadn't seemed like the type to go off half-cocked. The opposite actually. She seemed incredible. Irreplaceable. And they'd just left her behind. Neither liked himself very much for that.

_"Arse."_

_"Prat."_

Even as they forged forward at the Doctor's insistence, they wanted to run back and charge in, if only to make sure her body didn't get carted off into some dank hole and forgotten forever.

_"Really clever, aren't you?"_

_"You started it!"_

Silently, they agreed to make the Colonel a priority as soon as they brought the Doctor back. It made each step forward just a little easier to take, even if the creeping terror of human ruthlessness was just as frightening and dangerous as sharp claws and brute strength.

Torin shuddered as he remembered how close he had come to having his skull split in two by massive, dripping incisors. How Chaudhry had kicked it to save him and it had torn open her thigh like a sack of wheat flour. He wished his sister was there.

He felt his brother squeeze his shoulder and he looked over at him.

_Me too,_ Lios said silently.

_How'd she ever manage this stuff? Did we really ever let her go it alone?_

Li's face hardened. _Never again, _he answered mentally with fire in his eyes.

Torin nodded, and steeled his own resolve.

_"Must you act like children? What is it that makes you so ashamed of being a grown-up? Omega take you all, the way you look at me! What is that? I can only describe it as dread! It's pitiful."_

Never had a stretch of building seemed so long or perilous. Every footstep or imagined sound felt like it spelled disaster. Sometimes it was only angry voices floating through the portal confusing them, and others it was hushed conversation down a bisecting corridor where heavily armed UNIT officers lurked which needed to be passed with extreme caution.

_"The Time War. The last day of the Time War. The day you killed them all."_

_"The day we killed them all."_

_"Same thing."_

They had fallen back on telepathic communication, but it was like trying to keep an infant asleep in a building with paper-thin walls, and the neighbours having the mother of all domestics.

_"You're at least four hundred years older than I am now and, in all that time, you never even wondered how many there were? You never once counted?"_

They had just been about to cross one such area when the Doctor's voice which had belonged to their father reached a fiery crescendo.

_"Four hundred years? Is that all it takes? Four hundred years? Two point four seven billion children dead, and you forgot!"_

As though the subject was not enough on its own to make them want the Earth to open up and swallow them whole, the voices in the neighbouring corridor which had been chatting casually, went dead silent, and after only a few moments, they heard the cocking of heavy artillery and approaching feet.

They retreated as quickly and silently as they could to the nearest doorway and used the sonic to break their way in, hastily locking it behind them.

They looked at each other helplessly while the Doctors continued to rage at each other, the conversation going from bad to worse with every word. They both knew they'd never mention it, but couldn't un-hear the venom they spat. They respected - even revered the man - and _this_ was how he saw himself. They ached for him. They wanted to help. They wanted to change it.

_"Really. You moved on? Where? Where can you possibly be now that you can forget something like that?"_

_"Spoilers."_

_"No! No, no, no, no, no, for once, I would like to know where I'm going!"_

_"No. You really wouldn't."_

_"I don't know who you've become. Any of you! I haven't the faintest! What happened? When did you lose your way?"_

Silently, they joined hands and shared worried looks, brown eyes meeting blue in bewilderment and frustration.

Outside someone jiggled the door handle.

_Should we tell them they're going to get us killed?_ Torin asked his brother with fear and desperation in his normally jovial eyes.

Lios had no idea. He wasn't sure they could even get the Doctor's attention then, and anything they did might give them away. _Give them a moment. I think... I think they need to get this out, and we're stuck until the soldiers go and unless they have a way in..._

The handle went silent and the footsteps passed farther down the hall, but neither of them dared venture out yet while the Doctors shouted.

_"I don't want this!"_

The fight seemed to have passed after a few moments more and they could hear no more voices outside.

Torin went to unlock the door, but Lios stopped him with a hand over the one which held the tool.

_Scan for people out there first._

_Can it even do that? It's a thick stone wall, will bio-signatures register, do you think?_

Lios shrugged and furrowed his brows. _Can't hurt to try. If not the stone, then the door?_

Torin shook his head. _It's wood. _

He tried several times to get a reading, but only came back with composite stone molecular structures. Could mean they were clear, could mean they were out of luck. Either way, it wasn't worth the risk.

_Try the other side where the other corridor was._ Lios encouraged. _Some had to have stayed behind in it. If you get a reading, then we know._

_You know, sometimes I'm willing to admit we're related too._

Lios smiled in return, but it was strained, still tainted by fear and anxiety.

Torin moved to the adjacent wall and took a reading, but something in a high corner caught his eye.

Faint circular etchings in the stone near the ceiling.

He swatted at his brother's shoulder and pointed.

They grinned at each other, and Lios gave his brother a boost so he could get a closer look.

* * *

.

* * *

"…Stop worrying your pretty head over it. The boys will be here soon and, with any luck, we'll never have to look at each other again."

As if he'd summoned them, a flash of blue spit out the two disoriented men onto the ground.

"Oh, fat lot of good you are in here with us. Couldn't've aimed for outside the cell?" the Doctor chided.

"Oh, sure!" Torin grimaced with his eyes closed and his head on the straw-covered stone. "Lemme just hop back and try again, shall I? Not like cobbled together bloody space-hoppers are that easy to nav- _eugh!_ My head! Yeah, that- that was not pleasant. Reckon I'll stick with the TARDIS here on, thanks. _Ow! Get your foot outta my face! Gerroff!_ Pra- oh, hello!" He sat up and surveyed the Doctor's past regenerations. "Blimey, look!"

He kneed his brother in the ribs, who quickly retaliated with a shove and a scowl, then sat up and came face to face with the man who had their father's appearance to the letter - well, much younger, but still, it was weird. And filled them with incredible longing. They'd been happy to accept that the man they were travelling with was in fact the same man, despite the two hearts and the time travelling spaceship, but seeing_ his_ face…

The Time Lord in the brown, pinstriped suit reluctantly tore his warm, brown eyes away and looked at his older self with a tumultuous mixture of terror, greed, confusion, and desperate need. It was easy to doubt the assertion while they were on the other side of the fissure, but seeing them… they were his. "River Song…?" he choked.

The Doctor ran his hand through his fringe and shook his head, then straightened his bow-tie with a nod. He'd worn his favourite blue one with the tiny rosebuds on it.

The motion was not lost on himself, and the younger swallowed the lump which had stubbornly formed in his throat. Like they were magnets and his eyes bits of brown steel, he went back to greedily studying the brothers who were still staring at him with wide-eyed wonder.

Daft Ears, however, had only caught a name which wasn't the one he'd wanted, and was reacting, well, accordingly.

"So, not only do I turn into a ruddy pretty boy _twice,_ but I stop carin' about… Figures. You couldn't even remember the number of children you murdered on Gallifrey, why would you give a toss for… She's better off without me, an' I hope whoever this 'River Song' person is…" he found he couldn't even complete the sentence. His hearts felt like they would shatter any moment.

Torin laughed, shocking the hell out of the younger Doctors and breaking the tension slightly.

"Who does that sound like, eh? It's like putting together a puzzle! Wonder what the Alpha'd do if she saw him like that? Think they'd get on? Think she'd laugh? Probably not, but we would! Oh, this is material for centuries! This- this is like _Christmas,_ honestly! The maddest Christmas ever! All we need're some crackers and some of Mum's burnt pudding! Maybe I'm just hungry. Who'd win in a scowling contest, do you think? I'm going to show her this as soon as we find her! I can't wait to see her face!"

"Oi, you got his ears," Lios said quietly as he took in the stunned man in the battered leather coat.

Torin's hands went automatically to his hair and smoothed it down on the sides of his head.

The youngest Doctor was quite as confused as the next two men he'd become. He looked to the golden woman watching the scene so serenely by his side.

She lifted one dark, arched brow and grinned. "Hope exists in your future, Doctor. It's up to you whether or not you want it. Can you do this and forgive yourself enough to carry on with life, or do you let all of reality fade away? Become only a thought trapped in the amber of a moment? I promise you, neither of these men, nor their sister will ever exist should you decide you can't. They're not children of Gallifrey. You won't be killing them, they'll simply fade away and never have been at all."

"And just how, my dear, is that not the same thing?"

"Ah, my Doctor, that's for you to decide, isn't it? Can you weigh the fate of three against - how many children did they say again?"

"Who're you talking to?" Torin asked looking around the room in confusion. "And where do you fit in? I don't think I know your face."

"He's me, Torin. Gone a bit around the bend just now - he keeps talking to someone only he can see and I don't remember any of it, so I imagine - never mind, forget it, not important. Anyway he's me. Used to have hair like yours when I looked like him. I cut it when I decided to join the war and stop being the Doctor."

"You _stopped_ being the Doctor?" both the young men asked while Sandshoes and Ears asked, _"Torin?"_

"Ah, yes," he ignored the boys and looked at each of himself in turn, "Doctor, Doctor… You - er - Not-the-Doctor-Anymore… These are your sons, Torin and Lios. Torin, Lios, meet me- some of me. Their sister, Selene, is er… not here. She's elsewhere doing elsewhere things. We were looking for her. But they're here, aren't they? Get your fill and look! You'll be forgetting them soon enough. You two," he said more gently as he turned to the two young men whom he was somehow now unabashedly claiming as his own - apparently he just needed to admit it - er - to himselves, "get on with it. I know you want to."

They awkwardly took steps toward the man who looked like the father they'd lost.

Glee and hope like nothing they'd ever seen spread across the suited man's features. It was almost heartsbreaking to see it. He had so little clue that, while each boys knew his face as well as he knew his own, he'd never know theirs in his body.

After a few awkward moments, Torin abandoned his reservation in favour of launching himself at the man with the beloved face. He pulled him into a rough hug before thoroughly feeling the familiar features with his fingers. He was soon joined by Lios in the tactile mapping of the visage both young men had never thought to see again in their many lifetimes.

No one mentioned the wetness upon the three sets of cheeks as they stepped back.

"You look like me," the Doctor managed through the lump in his throat.

"Yeah, a bit," Torin gave an uncharacteristically shy smile, rubbing at his leaky eyes with his arm. "Unfortunately, Selene got all Mum's good looks, didn't she, Li? All pink and yellow."

Leather's head snapped up and his blue eyes blazed.

"Weeeell, at least she did until she regenerated," he babbled, "now she looks like… a bit like, well, you," Torin turned and indicated Leather and Ears.

"Wha'?" the post-war Doctor perked up, moving closer quickly to join the group. Pink and yellow could describe anyone, but it was enough to pull him out of his funk.

"But it suits her," the young man continued thoughtfully. "She's sort of rough around the edges this go."

"I'll try not to take tha' personal." He rolled his eyes and gave a little huff.

"That's _mental!_" Torin guffawed, absolutely tickled with the discoveries he was making about their shared similarities to their father. He turned excitedly to his brother. "Did you see that?" He turned back with a little twirl to the Doctor. "I can't get over it! She's never going to hear the end of this, I'm telling you, had I known this was how today would go, I'd've brought a camera. Do that again! Ha!"

Lios elbowed him in the ribs. "Can't you go two minutes without running your gob?"

"How'd she regenerate? …I have a daughter an' she's regenerated. She can regenerate. I've sons an' a daughter… an' they can regenerate- she…" His tone had taken on an accusatory note, clearly under the impression he'd grown far too lax with time. _"Why_ did she regenerate? _You! Bow-tie an' Braces!_ Why'd she regenerate? What were you doin' while you should've been lookin' after her? How old're you lot then? Have you done as well?"

"'Bow-tie and Braces!' _Brilliant!_ It's like you're her, but him!" he guffawed pointing from Ears to Bow-tie. "Madness, I'm telling you! We're one hundred and twenty-seven-"

"We're?" asked the Doctor in pinstripes.

"Yeah, we're triplets, and no we haven't. Regenerated, I mean, Li and I haven't, just Selene. It was an accident, really. Or, well, not exactly an accident per se, but it wasn't planned. Except, why would we plan for her to regenerate? She could've stayed blonde, and short, and over-bitey for centuries! It was a good look for her and it didn't hurt as much when she punched - we wouldn't have purposely changed her, but like I told you, her face suits her well enough now. See we-"

"Oi!" interrupted the oldest Doctor. "Can we have story time later? We're locked in the Tower of London in 1562 and the Earth's still in danger in 2006, in case you missed it!"

"Right!" the boys chorused, abandoning the nostalgic trap they'd fallen into and running over to their current him with all attentiveness to begin planning. As easy as it was to long for days gone by and give in to the yearning to touch memories from childhood, the respect and devotion to the man who wanted to and could feasibly be - and wasn't the feeling overwhelming and exciting - their dad inspired them to follow his lead without reservation or hesitation. They had the future to save, and they trusted him to do it.

The two younger Doctors trailed in their wake with expressions of longing as the youngest of the incarnations sat and observed alongside the feral-looking blonde woman. Her golden eyes were drinking in the men before them like they belonged to her and only her. In that moment, he knew exactly who the Bad Wolf girl was, even if he didn't know her name.

"Tell me what to do," he whispered hoarsely.

"I can't," she replied without breaking her hungry gaze. "The decision is yours alone, Doctor - and you _are_ the Doctor, no matter how you think of yourself now or in the future. I can't and wouldn't make it for you, even if I wanted to. I can only show you what could be. You must decide which future should never be. You'll be the one who has to bear the burden for the rest of your lives."

"If I destroy my home and my people, I get… them… and you."

She didn't acknowledge his words, but he knew she'd heard them.

"The price is too steep. How can a man who kills billions ever deserve this? How can I accept this as the right course? How can I let… anyone ever…"

"You don't get to choose who loves you, my Doctor, or why they do any more than you can choose whom you will love."

"What are you, really?"

Her eyes flashed for a moment with brilliant, golden energy. "I told you, just a wolf. A Moment of infinite possibility. I'm here to show you what you want to see, what you need to see."

"Oh, Bad Wolf girl, I hope you know what you're doing."

All heads snapped in his direction.

_"What?"_ demanded Sandshoes. "What was that you just said?"

"Tell them to try the door," the apparition grinned with a feral, knowing glint in her golden eyes.

"What was that about the Bad Wolf?" Sandshoes insisted while the eldest Doctor and the two young men exchanged cryptic looks.

"Wha's Bad Wolf? I - I've heard tha' before. It's followin' me everywhere I go!" Ears furrowed his brows and searched each of the faces around him.

The older two Doctors looked away uneasily. It would be so very soon that he would understand precisely what they were about, but they remained silent.

"Have you blithering fools even tried the door?" the hardened man in the battered coat asked with an irritatingly aloof look. He ignored that he too had not bothered to check it, though the most likely scenario involved the interface and whatever strange power she possessed.

He stood and strode to the wooden door and pushed.

It swung open easily.

"Well, you obviously don't get smarter with age, do you?" Torin grinned maniacally and moved to follow the youngest Doctor out of the cell.

"Oi!" chorused the older three.

"Cheek!" cried Sandshoes.

Lios chuckled and patted the Doctor in tweed on the shoulder, before following after Torin.

The younger two locked their eyes on the man they would become, demanding answers without words.

"Don't, it's pointless. You're never going to remember anyway, you'll just have to suck it and see." He fiddled with his bow-tie and grinned with child-like glee. "Suck it and see! Love that expression! It sounds very cool. My daughter uses it all the time. Kids and their slang. Crikey, this is going to be odd when I remember it all. Times three no less. Four sets of this! Oh, look, we're free. Shall we - us - you - er - I?" He walked away quickly left himselves throwing him a pair of scowls worthy of the title Oncoming Storm.

"Brilliant. I turn into a bloody toddler."

"Better you than me, pretty boy."

"Better pretty than daft."

"How long d'you spend in front of the mirror stylin' your hair then?"

"Didn't Charles Dickens call you a navvy?"

"Wha' was so _wrong_ with tha' jumper?"

"If you two _don't_ mind!" called the youngest Doctor.


End file.
